Portret van Joaquim Ferreira Sarmanto before 1878

This is an anonymous portrait of Joaquim Ferreira Sarmento, likely a photograph contained within a bound collection. Observe how the image is presented within an oval frame, a deliberate compositional choice that draws our focus to the general’s face and uniform. This framing, combined with the sepia tone, lends the portrait a sense of historical distance, yet it also invites a deeper engagement with the subject’s persona and representation. The subject’s gaze and the formal attire are signifiers of power, yet they also invite a semiotic reading of identity, where the sitter's self-representation is a performance of social and political status. The artist’s structuring of the portrait reflects a broader engagement with how identity is constructed through visual representation. This allows the portrait to function as a site of ongoing interpretation and re-interpretation.