Portret van een onbekende man 1863

Léopold Flameng created this engraving, *Portrait of an Unknown Man,* sometime between 1831 and 1911. The image reminds us that the public role of art is inextricably linked to power. What exactly is the politics of portraiture? Flameng made this print in France, a country whose history of art institutions was closely tied to the aristocracy and later, the state. In order to build his career, he had to navigate the complex bureaucracy of the Parisian art world. This portrait, with its clear references to the Dutch Golden Age, is a reminder that artists are always in conversation with the art of the past. But it also encourages us to consider what the revival of past styles says about the social conditions of 19th century France. Was this a way to comment on the social structures of his own time? As art historians, we rely on archival sources such as exhibition reviews and artists’ correspondence to understand the institutional context of images like this. The meaning of art is always contingent on social and political context.