Portret van Herman Adriaan Bicker Caarten 1860

Matthijs Willem Gerardus Michielsen made this print of Herman Adriaan Bicker Caarten in the Netherlands sometime in the mid-19th century. In this period, the rise of the middle classes was reflected in a growing demand for portraiture. Looking at this engraving, we might consider it a product of the Dutch bourgeois society and its institutions of power. The sitter, a prominent figure in the local government, is represented with the visual codes of authority. The austere pose, the dark suit, and the formal setting all point to the sitter’s social standing. The portrait is not merely a neutral depiction of an individual, it is a statement about the social and political context in which it was made. What does it mean that the subject is a member of the local government? How is this connected to the social and political conditions that shaped artistic production? These are the kinds of questions social historians might ask. By consulting archival records, genealogical databases, and other documentary sources we can gain a better understanding of the power dynamics at play in the production and reception of this image.