Portret van Johann Heinrich Schmuckers 1710 - 1762

Curator: Look at this Baroque engraving by Johann Lochmann. It's a portrait of Johann Heinrich Schmuckers, likely created sometime between 1710 and 1762. The detail achieved through the engraving is fascinating! Editor: It's stark, isn't it? All these tight lines. Creates a solemn mood. Almost a weightiness. Do you feel that? Curator: Yes, absolutely! There's a formality, a posed quality that definitely lends to that serious tone. It's interesting how the engraver uses line variations to depict textures—from the smooth forehead to the intricate lace cuffs and wig. The drape of the curtains in the background adds another layer of complexity. Editor: The production of an engraving like this... the time involved... You know, you have to imagine someone meticulously carving those lines into a metal plate. And for what purpose? A single portrait, or were multiples printed? The labor itself interests me. What social message it conveys and to what potential audience, versus say, the cost of paying for it. It feels almost subversive to focus on process! Curator: In a way, focusing on the 'making' highlights its intended permanence, its object-hood, which sometimes fades behind the "portrait" aspect. Lochmann created an image destined to endure—a testament to the sitter's status, the engraver's skill. Also a way of conveying certain status or traits as we tend to believe that dress can communicate who a person is or wants to be, or at least present. And also perhaps on mortality? What remains. What we remember through physical items, through images of what once was. Editor: True, like all that detail on a small plate can really give you that idea that there will be more and maybe that someone cared and wanted that image saved. It feels very much about saving people from vanishing. Curator: So much personality from the tiniest details etched onto the plate, the subject seems frozen yet so full of stories. Editor: Agreed, I do find it quite compelling from the materialist perspective and think of the socioeconomic reality it brings forth!