Portret van Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse 1833

Antoine Maurin created this portrait of Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse using lithography. Portraits such as this one functioned as political tools that reinforced hierarchies of power. Joyeuse, a French admiral and naval officer, is depicted with great care, his garments suggesting high social standing. However, what does it mean to memorialize a man who upheld a system deeply rooted in inequality? The French Revolution, of which Joyeuse was a part, sought to overturn aristocratic privilege, yet here he is, immortalized in a manner befitting royalty. And so we are left to consider the emotional dimensions of history and representation. It is an image of a man, but also an image of power, and the complex, often contradictory, legacies that power leaves behind. What do we do with the figures whose histories are inseparable from systems of oppression?