Self-Portrait 1785

Editor: Here we have Adam von Bartsch’s Self-Portrait. It’s a pen and brown ink drawing, but I find it so striking. The loose lines seem very modern. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's tempting to see modernity, but let's contextualize Bartsch within his time. Late 18th century Vienna saw a rigid social hierarchy. How might a self-portrait, especially by someone who wrote about art history, challenge or reinforce those structures? Was he trying to elevate his status? Editor: So, his choices about clothing and expression, the fur, are all potentially statements of class and intellectual position? Curator: Exactly! Consider the power dynamics at play when an individual, through their own image, asserts their place in a society steeped in tradition and aristocratic privilege. Editor: That reframes my view entirely. I had just seen it as a simple drawing. Curator: Art is never created in a vacuum. It’s a product of and a commentary on its time.