Medaillon met het portret van de Atheense staatman Cimon 1799

This is Reinier Vinkeles's etching of the Athenian statesman Cimon. Note the medallion form, evoking ancient coins and medals, set against a backdrop of classical ruins and verdant nature. The profile portrait, a direct reference to Roman portraiture, hails back to a tradition of immortalizing leaders through art. This artistic convention can be traced back to the death masks of ancient Egypt. Here, the artist seeks to evoke an idea of timelessness, connecting Cimon to a lineage of great leaders through the ages. Consider how this echoes in later portraits, from Renaissance busts to modern-day statues. Each age adapts the form, yet the underlying impulse remains: to preserve, to commemorate, to engage with our cultural memory. It serves as a potent reminder of the cyclical nature of history, and how images continually resurface, evolving and adapting across generations.