Portret van Ferdinand Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 1745

Curator: Here we have a striking portrait from 1745, currently residing here at the Rijksmuseum: "Portret van Ferdinand Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen" created by Johann Martin Bernigeroth. It's an engraving, a print—that wonderful Baroque era preserved in ink. Editor: My first impression? Imposing, in a rather…controlled way. The tight oval frame seems to be holding back something. The gentleman looks quite proper, almost…contained. Does that resonate with you? Curator: Absolutely, there's a formality. The tightly curled wig, the ornate robe… they’re all devices of power and status. Notice how Bernigeroth uses the engraving to convey texture – the crispness of the lines defining the face, versus the delicate shading that suggests the fabric's weight and complexity. It really grounds him in this world of aristocratic Baroque refinement. Editor: And yet, it feels like more than just a recording of aristocratic identity, no? All those precisely engraved lines...they strike me as trying to capture something that's maybe beyond just mere appearance. It seems it is almost too tight; look at how it captures every wrinkle and fold. Maybe he didn't have the power he projected so he compensated through these visual cues? Curator: Perhaps you're onto something about performance. Engravings like this were often commissioned to circulate images, and project an ideal, but they could also create a false idol and maybe they were also designed for more than the common person's glance, like the man in question would inspect it to be sure the artist delivered on its work. Here is to ponder to who the performance was intended to be. Ferdinand might indeed be staging himself through very deliberate sartorial and semiotic choices, through the use of particular codes! Editor: Hmm, a stage. I think it might feel sad and limiting, but perhaps that's just my modern lens. I can feel the pressure within those sharp lines. This wasn’t really about Ferdinand himself but it’s an early sort of press shot or symbolic prop…fascinating really! Curator: Absolutely. It's a testament to how even within seemingly rigid artistic forms, we can discover such intimate human narratives.