Portret van Francisco Calzolari 1591 - 1595

Curator: So, this print, residing here at the Rijksmuseum, is titled "Portret van Francisco Calzolari," and it dates back to somewhere between 1591 and 1595. Jacob Matham created it through engraving. Editor: It's fascinating! He appears stoic, maybe a bit skeptical. The texture of the print gives him this almost… stone-like presence. You can almost feel the weight of history radiating from him. Curator: Indeed. Matham has rendered Calzolari with an incredible level of detail. Look at the way he’s used line to create shadows and to give texture to the beard and hair. Notice, too, the lettering, framing his portrait, giving his age and profession. Editor: Those tight, curving lines really define and articulate the volume. He seems almost pressed into this oval, like an idea struggling to breathe within the confines of expectation. Do you think Matham was purposefully playing with expectations of the portraiture of the time? Curator: It's quite possible. Though a portrait, this print also presents Calzolari as a figure of learning and authority—look closely, and you can decipher that the sitter was a pharmacist, "pharmacopola" inscribed proudly on the border. Editor: It is beautifully done, that merging of person and persona through image and script. Something so enduring about capturing fleeting human existence in the staccato rhythms of lines etched on a plate. Almost poetic, wouldn’t you say? Curator: Absolutely. Matham was working within a tradition of portraiture that sought to capture not just likeness but essence. To freeze a legacy. Editor: It leaves you thinking about the art of remembering someone and how images like these help do it.