Portret van Karel IV, hertog van Lotharingen c. 1663 - 1695

Christiaan Hagen created this portrait of Karel IV, Duke of Lorraine, using engraving techniques sometime between 1635 and 1707. The portrait is a window into the complex identity of a man whose life was steeped in war and politics. Charles IV, a man caught between his ambitions and the shifting allegiances of 17th-century Europe, embodies the tensions of leadership. Hagen's detailed rendering of Charles in armor, holding a commander's staff, speaks to the conventional representation of power, yet there is an underlying vulnerability in his gaze. The elaborate wig, a status symbol of the era, contrasts with the harsh realities of the battlefield that defined much of Charles's reign. This engraving captures not just a likeness, but a moment in the ongoing construction of identity amidst the turmoil of history.