Portret van conrector Adam Leonard Kaldenbach

This print of Adam Leonard Kaldenbach was made by Ludwig Gottlieb Portman sometime between the late 1700s and early 1800s. It’s rendered in a now-uncommon technique called stipple engraving. Look closely, and you’ll see that the image isn't made of lines, but tiny dots, pitted into the copper plate with a special tool called a roulettte. It’s a laborious method, requiring great skill. The more dots per square inch, the darker the tone. Because of this, the medium was seen as particularly well-suited to rendering flesh. This print would have been made by a highly skilled artisan, working to produce a portrait of a member of the middle class. It's a fascinating example of how the graphic arts could both record a likeness, and elevate the status of the sitter. Considering this, we can see how so-called 'minor' arts are in fact integral to understanding social values and artistic expression.