Portret van Anton Heins 1765

This is Christian Fritzsch’s portrait of Anton Heins, made as an engraving. Here we see the conventions of formal portraiture being brought to bear on the image of a learned man. The image is carefully constructed. Note the trappings of scholarship around him, especially the books, but also the trappings of wealth, such as his clothing and the classical column in the background. The trappings of class are made visible in the details of this print. The country in which it was made, and the institutions that supported it, must have been deeply unequal. This work is a testament to the hierarchies of 18th century Europe. To understand this work fully, we must investigate the worlds of wealth, class, and education in the period. We can ask: Who was the engraver, and who was the sitter? What institutions did they belong to? What can we discover in archives or libraries that might shed further light on the conditions of its making?