Portret van Accursius 1587 - 1606

Curator: What strikes me immediately about this engraving is the sheer weightiness it projects – a kind of solemn authority emanating from the figure. Editor: Yes, and the weight is both literal, in terms of the material and the technique – think about the labor invested in this early printmaking. This is “Portret van Accursius,” attributed to Philips Galle, and estimated to have been created between 1587 and 1606. Curator: The textures are quite fascinating; it is as though Accursius' garments aren't so much covering as encasing him. What about this strange scalloped fur collar; each pointed form has a curious echo in the stylized rays sometimes used to depict saintly enlightenment, yet in reverse. It has a flattening effect to this legal scholar. It creates this feeling that the figure is both wise and weighed down. The inscription is evocative too… Editor: "unless you provide the guiding threads of your Glossaries”. It connects his work with unravelling complex codes or social laws. This also draws me to consider paper production and print culture during this period and the economic structures supporting Galle's workshop, not to mention distribution networks in a time of limited infrastructure. Each engraved line represents material effort within those structures. Curator: Quite. And thinking of ‘lines’, I feel a clear connection between those "guiding threads" he supposedly offers to navigate "dark labyrinths," and those that constitute this artwork: from the text below, to those etching lines giving dimension to the garment folds, to his fur lapels framing the face and setting the stern countenance… Editor: It's impossible to look at this portrait and not think of class, privilege and intellectual power during that time. This portrait has such tangible quality for it's subject matter: the production value reflects the power that it also promises to unravel through law. What an interesting point of historical continuity that exists in that paradox of then and now. Curator: Well, reflecting on how Galle’s “Portret van Accursius” employs symbol and form certainly gives me new appreciation for those "guiding threads." Editor: Indeed. Considering its process helps appreciate not just the artwork but also social conditions of the period.