Archbishop Williams Lord Keeper 1742

Curator: This is Jacobus Houbraken's "Archbishop Williams Lord Keeper," currently residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. Note the graphic precision rendered through engraving. Editor: The tonality is quite formal, almost severe, despite the ornate framing. The lack of color enforces a certain austerity. Curator: Indeed. The framing, however, is highly stylized. Consider how the text integrates into the oval. A kind of graphic semiotics that amplifies the sitter's status. The power of the church made visually explicit. Editor: Absolutely, the symbols of authority, like the Lord Keeper’s mace below the portrait, are integral to how we receive the image—the performance of power through visual representation. Curator: Precisely, Houbraken compels a reading that equates the man with the office. Editor: It's a fascinating intersection of individual and institution, rendered with striking graphic clarity. Curator: And a study in the visual language of power and authority.