Portret van de arts Gian Giacomo Bartolotti da Parma 1660

This is Jan van Troyen’s rendering of Gian Giacomo Bartolotti da Parma, made with etching. Van Troyen worked in a period of immense social and scientific change, and specialized in portraiture. Bartolotti da Parma was not just any man; as a doctor, he occupied a unique space in society, navigating both intellectual and social spheres. We see him portrayed with the markers of his class: his garments, his ring. Yet, what does it mean to capture a man’s likeness in a time when medical understanding was rapidly evolving? The gaze, the set of the shoulders, all invite us to consider what it meant to be a man of science, caught between tradition and the burgeoning Enlightenment. This portrait then is not just of a man, but of a moment, charged with the weight of societal expectations. It urges us to reflect on the relationship between identity, representation, and the evolving landscape of knowledge.