Portret van Pierre Desfontaines 1722 - 1775

Georg Friedrich Schmidt created this portrait of Pierre Desfontaines using engraving techniques. Desfontaines, seen here with a full wig, holds a piece of paper—a symbol of his erudition and profession. The act of holding and presenting a text has deep roots. Think back to ancient Roman portraiture, where scrolls signified authority and wisdom, or even earlier, to Egyptian depictions of scribes with their papyrus. Here, this gesture, transformed and adapted, speaks to Desfontaines' identity as a man of letters in the 18th century. It’s fascinating how these motifs evolve, carrying echoes of their past while adapting to new cultural contexts. We are all, in a sense, creatures of memory, and the symbols we create and re-create reflect this ongoing dialogue between past and present. As a symbol, the paper invokes the weight of history, subtly engaging our collective memory and inviting us to ponder the enduring power of the written word.