Portret van Georg Christian Erhard Westphal 1774 - 1803

Johann Gottfried Schmidt engraved this portrait of Georg Christian Erhard Westphal, capturing the essence of the Enlightenment era. The stark profile, framed within a circle, evokes ancient Roman portraiture, a deliberate nod to the classical past and its ideals of reason and order. Note the subject's attire. The simple dark coat and white clerical collar speak to Westphal’s status, possibly as a clergyman or academic, reflecting the values of piety and intellect. This image also conjures the tradition of the "vir illustris," the illustrious man, whose virtues and achievements are celebrated through portraiture. This connects it to earlier painted effigies of religious and civic leaders that sought to immortalize not just a likeness but moral character. Like the cyclical nature of history itself, such symbols resurface, shedding old skins and donning new meanings. The portrait encapsulates the Enlightenment's drive to ground itself in the classical past while forging a path towards a future guided by reason.