Axel Urup 1655 - 1659

Albert Haelwegh made this print of Axel Urup, a member of the Danish ruling class, using engraving, a medium well-suited to detailed portraiture. The print participates in a broader culture of image-making that served the interests of the Danish state. Consider the way Urup is presented here: expensively dressed, coiffed, and wearing a medal. The Latin inscription below makes clear that he is a man of status. This image would have circulated among an elite social group that was highly invested in projecting an image of power and authority. Seventeenth-century Denmark was a highly stratified society. The nobility had vast land holdings and privileges. Objects such as this print reinforced social hierarchy, making inequality seem natural and inevitable. To understand this image better, we might consult genealogical records, histories of the Danish monarchy, and studies of dress and fashion. Approaching art from a historical point of view makes us realize that its meaning is never fixed but changes over time as social and political contexts shift.