Aankondiging van de portretten van Jacoba van Beieren en Frank van Borselen before 1753

Curator: Here we have an engraving, predating 1753, titled "Aankondiging van de portretten van Jacoba van Beieren en Frank van Borselen"—or, "Announcement of the portraits of Jacoba of Bavaria and Frank van Borselen," housed here at the Rijksmuseum. The piece is attributed to Jacob Folkema. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: Well, it's quite text-heavy, isn't it? Almost like a historical advertisement, with this elaborate initial "I" and swirling lines. It feels… verbose. Almost too much information to digest at once. Curator: Precisely. It served as an announcement for forthcoming portrait prints of Jacoba of Bavaria and her husband, Frank van Borselen. Notice the meticulous detail in the typography, and within the "I", that little landscape scene. Editor: It reminds me of those intricately designed bookplates from the same period, symbols layered upon symbols. What about Jacoba herself? She seems such a potent symbol of female leadership. Does her image carry similar weight here? Curator: The text actually highlights that accurate portraits of Jacoba and Frank were scarce. This print aimed to rectify that, announcing that the forthcoming portraits were based on paintings by Jan van Eyck for Jacoba, and Philips van Beuren for Frank, themselves portraits known for their trueness. It taps into their reputations and promotes this upcoming artistic rendering of the historical figures. Editor: So, it's advertising not just an image, but also its perceived authenticity. In a way, it’s almost selling trust in a visual representation. The claim to ‘true likeness’ becomes its own selling point. I can't help but imagine how those first viewers would feel about possessing an accurate piece of history, one rendering of Jacoba, considering that Jacoba herself must have carried so much meaning, so much symbolic weight as a political player. Curator: Exactly. And notice the subtle boast about the original paintings, by renowned artists! It lends the print further credibility, aligning the soon to be released portraits of Jacoba van Beieren and Frank van Borselen with artistic and historic accuracy. Editor: It really makes you think about how symbols and likenesses are constructed, advertised, and ultimately consumed throughout time. Visual representations are never neutral; they're always carefully curated with intention, aren’t they? Even these.