Portretten van Cornelis Jacobsz. Delff, Gheraert Verspronck en Jan Snellinck 1764

Curator: Hmm, quite an assembly. My first thought? “Claustrophobia chic." Editor: Precisely! What we are viewing here is a print from 1764 called "Portretten van Cornelis Jacobsz. Delff, Gheraert Verspronck en Jan Snellinck," that offers an unusual composite group portrait of three artists from a bygone era, crafted in the Baroque style by Jan l'Admiral. Curator: The way the portraits are stacked – framed and floating as if suspended mid-air– it’s rather bizarre! Like some curatorial fever dream. And yet there’s a formality too. Baroque as you said, so perhaps my feeling is somewhat the point? Editor: Undoubtedly, that formality serves a purpose. Those ruffs! They were status symbols in the 17th century. Think of the circles each represents: the upper echelons of artistic society and its self-fashioned authority. Also it is a powerful evocation of the period! Curator: It's an elaborate construction—a portrait collection *as* architecture, I mean look at how these men are presented in such constructed environments, but that perspective line throws everything off! It does make you think about layers, not just of paint, but of time and representation. Each face is meticulously rendered and then framed, as a form of respect and formality? Or perhaps... Editor: It might very well have been an exploration of what one age sees in another. How we look to those who've shaped the artistic terrain and try to find ourselves in their reflections, in their creative legacy. I imagine, a kind of pantheon of artistry. And how they looked back at their artistic fathers as well... Curator: So much for "keeping it simple." It all seems so pointedly self-conscious – this placing of self next to self, in what must also mean legacy. Well, thanks for untangling that, a bit. Made me feel somewhat... framed! Editor: It just suggests to me that the act of honoring predecessors is never entirely free of the self, of self-image. Anyway, an intriguing picture, wouldn’t you agree?