Portret van Wilhelm Schickard 1673

Melchior Hafner the Younger created this engraving of Georgius Hieronymus Welsch, a 17th century physician. Consider the historical context of portraiture, which often served to immortalize and legitimize its subjects, typically men of status, power, and intellect. Welsch, framed by laurel leaves and Latin inscriptions declaring his association with the Academy of Curious Investigators of Nature, is presented as a figure of scientific authority. Yet, looking closer, one sees that the construction of his identity as a learned man is inseparable from his gender and class. The very act of commissioning and circulating such a portrait speaks to Welsch’s position within a social hierarchy that privileged certain bodies and voices. These images helped consolidate power structures of the time, reinforcing who was seen, heard, and remembered in the annals of history. They also make us question who was left out of the picture.