Portret van Adam Heinrich von Pollmann 1748

Curator: This is Johann Martin Bernigeroth's "Portret van Adam Heinrich von Pollmann," an engraving from 1748, housed in the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It has a formal, almost severe quality, even though it's baroque. What catches my eye is the level of detail achieved through engraving. It’s so precise! What's your perspective on this piece? Curator: Look closely at the lines, the hatching, the stippling. Bernigeroth's skill transformed metal into likeness. Consider the labour involved. Engraving wasn't just about artistic expression; it was a process deeply embedded in print culture, mass production and reproduction. Each line serves a material function. It becomes not just image, but also industry. Think of the socioeconomic context – how were prints used, who consumed them, and how did that influence artistic choices? Editor: So you're less interested in the person depicted and more in the *making* of the portrait and how it was consumed. Were prints like this primarily about spreading information or about showing off wealth? Curator: Precisely. The portrait's subject, Adam Heinrich von Pollmann, was a man of power. But I’m curious about how the *image* of power circulated. This print could have been disseminated broadly, contributing to his status through its very material presence in different social circles. Do you see that tension between the subject matter – the elite – and the potential audience, which could have included a far wider range of people through printed circulation? Editor: I hadn't considered the tension, but I do now. Thinking about who was purchasing these engravings and what they represented shifts the whole understanding of it. I never really considered that before. Curator: That’s the materiality of art for you! It pulls us away from pure aesthetics into the realms of labour, production, and consumption. It offers another important understanding.