C. W. Dunzfeldt 1809

Meno Haas created this portrait of C. W. Dunzfeldt as an engraving, a printmaking technique, on a metal plate. The man depicted is set in a circle, known as a 'tondo'. The Danish Royal Art Academy, founded in 1754, helped establish artistic standards and tastes, particularly Neoclassicism, across the country. Engravings like this one helped to circulate images of important men throughout Danish society in an age before photography. This image would likely have been commissioned to signal the sitter's place within a professional or intellectual network. What was the function of portraiture at this time? How did the production and circulation of images reflect social and cultural values? To understand this artwork, one would need to research the social role of portraiture in 18th and early 19th century Denmark and the cultural and institutional context that shaped its production.