Portret van Charles Christian Reisen 1729 - 1732

Editor: This is "Portret van Charles Christian Reisen," created between 1729 and 1732 by George White, and it's an engraving. It’s really striking – I'm curious about the techniques involved in printmaking at the time. What can you tell me about it? Curator: The production of this Baroque portrait is intimately tied to the means of disseminating images in the 18th century. Engraving, as a printmaking technique, allowed for the mass production of images and made art accessible to a broader public beyond the elite who could afford original paintings. Editor: So, this engraving democratized access to portraits? Curator: Precisely! Consider the materials used: the copper plate, the tools, the ink, the paper. Each component, and the labor invested in their manipulation, speaks to the complex social and economic conditions that supported artistic production. The paper itself might tell a story about trade routes and manufacturing processes. And how do you think this access affected society? Editor: That’s fascinating, thinking about it as a material process with labor embedded! I guess that having portraits circulating more widely perhaps challenged existing power structures around image ownership? It makes you think about how social media spreads images today. Curator: An astute comparison! We can look at how the print participates in constructing and disseminating an identity – both Reisen's and White's. This print is more than just a likeness; it is also about the artist's skill, and the system that produced and consumed these images. The choice of materials, the scale, and the mode of distribution, everything, impacted its reception. Editor: So looking beyond just the ‘artistic genius’ but the entire network makes so much sense when looking at this portrait. I will remember that going forward. Curator: It gives you a very different perspective, and the work becomes far richer.