Portret van Pieter van Lockhorst, zittend aan een tafel Possibly 1796 - 1798

Rienk Jelgerhuis rendered this portrait of Pieter van Lockhorst in pastel, capturing a man amidst the trappings of his domestic sphere. The table setting before him, complete with a neatly arranged stack of papers, evokes a sense of order and intellectual pursuit. But what truly captures our attention is the subtle gesture of his hand resting casually on his thigh. Throughout art history, this seemingly simple pose has been used to convey a sense of relaxed authority, reminiscent of emperors and philosophers in classical sculpture. We see echoes of it in Renaissance portraiture, where powerful figures are depicted with a similar air of composed self-assurance. This recurring motif speaks to a deeply ingrained human desire to project confidence. It surfaces time and again, not merely as a stylistic choice, but as a potent symbol of command, suggesting how collective memory shapes our understanding of power. This image lingers in our subconscious, creating a powerful connection between past and present.