Portret van Johann Goll van Franckenstein, met hoed, naar links 1781 - 1785

Louis Bernard Coclers created this portrait of Johann Goll van Franckenstein in the eighteenth century using pen and watercolor. Here we see a man in powdered wig and fashionable hat, poised with pen in hand. The Netherlands, where Coclers lived and worked, was then a republic dominated by a merchant class with a strong sense of civic identity. Portraiture allowed the wealthy to display their status and learning, but the downcast eyes of the sitter suggest that this image has more of a domestic, informal function. The hat is practical, not ornamental. He is caught in a moment of thought and reflection. Eighteenth-century Dutch society was structured around both class and religious affiliation. The Goll van Franckenstein family were wealthy and powerful, closely connected to the institutions of political power. To fully understand this drawing, we might investigate the family’s history through archival records, in order to understand the nuances of their social position, and the significance of this portrait.