Portret van Pieter Johannes Veth, oud 77 jaar 1874 - 1925

Editor: This is a graphite and charcoal drawing entitled *Portret van Pieter Johannes Veth, oud 77 jaar* - that translates to 'Portrait of Pieter Johannes Veth, aged 77 years'. It was made sometime between 1874 and 1925 by Jan Veth and is now at the Rijksmuseum. It looks so…intimate. What stands out to you when you see this drawing? Curator: Well, it immediately makes me think about the evolving role of the portrait in late 19th-century Dutch society. Photography was becoming more widespread, democratizing image production. So, what did it mean for an artist like Veth to create a drawn portrait then? Was it a commentary on the cold, objective eye of photography? Or perhaps a conscious effort to record an intimate human likeness, capturing more than just surface details? Editor: So it was perhaps meant to stand apart, to capture something beyond appearance? Curator: Exactly! The labor, the skill invested in hand-drawing…It’s a deliberate act of commemoration. Think about the institutional context: The Rijksmuseum acquiring this – what statement does that make about whose lives are valued, whose stories are told, and who does the telling? What does that say about the sitter, a professor of Ethnology of the Dutch East Indies? About the artist, a figure in the Dutch revival of portraiture and printmaking? Editor: So the medium, the technique, becomes a statement in itself. What does this say about who and what are memorialized? Curator: Precisely. And think of the social function, too. Portraits reinforce status, right? They participate in the visual construction of celebrity and the creation of powerful men. By exhibiting this work, a statement about that construction is displayed for generations. What are your thoughts on it? Editor: I hadn't considered it as part of a bigger cultural and political narrative, especially the statement about portraiture in a time of photography. It shows a more active side in art creation that extends beyond personal choices. Curator: Precisely!