Portret van Johann Lorenz von Mosheim 1750

Georg Daniel Heumann created this portrait of Johann Lorenz von Mosheim, likely sometime in the first half of the 18th century. It's an engraving, a printmaking technique that allowed for the wide circulation of images. Consider this image in relation to the rise of academic culture in the German states. Von Mosheim was a prominent Lutheran theologian and university professor. He taught at the University of Helmstedt, a school founded in the late 16th century as part of the Protestant Reformation. He later served at the University of Göttingen, an institution established in the 1730s that became a center for the Enlightenment. In his pose and attire, he exudes the authority of a scholar and cleric. Note the architectural background, the books, and the family crest, all of which reinforce his status. As historians, we can investigate archival records of these universities to learn more about the intellectual and social networks that shaped them. The images they used were meant to promote their universities. What did they stand for? How can we understand them better?