Portret van Philips van Winghe 1592 - 1597

Curator: Here we have Jacob Matham's engraving, "Portret van Philips van Winghe," created between 1592 and 1597. It resides, fittingly, at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first impression is one of meticulously rendered detail. Look at the intricate hatching! There’s almost a ghostly quality to the subject—a man caught between worlds. Curator: Exactly. The engraving medium itself, the very act of scoring lines into a metal plate, lends to that almost ethereal quality. It speaks volumes about the laborious printmaking processes and how many precise cuts had to go in this small portrait on paper. Editor: I also love how the lettering wraps around the portrait like an embracing vine. What can you tell me about that, that Latin inscription there, friend? Curator: It poetically speaks about Philip van Winghe, born in Leuven, and his studies. Then the text focuses on his relocation to Italy and admiration he earned from Italian scholars. And there, below the portrait, further texts that mark the year of his early death, 1592, at a very young age. Editor: Ah, yes! His early passing really resonates with me as an artisan. Because, after all, making and creation is not indefinite or inexhaustible and can abruptly conclude anytime! It gives this image a melancholic but dignified feeling... Knowing his life was, artistically speaking, "cut short" lends additional pathos to his face. Curator: Indeed. The Mannerist style certainly amplified such dramatic emotions back then! But still, even four centuries after, seeing these meticulously cut lines giving volume and depth to Winghe makes me marvel about time and materiality as tools of both making and remembering a life. Editor: Thinking about what makes Matham’s portrait resonate across time: The social function and value in images – and printed images specifically. This allows an almost mass distribution of an otherwise unavailable image to circulate and exist even today! Remarkable. Curator: Ultimately, Jacob Matham immortalized van Winghe—life, death, art, memory, all entwined on a piece of paper. Editor: Precisely. Art and material history intertwine to tell layered, compelling tales of creation and endurance.