Portret van John Paul Jones 1879

Adolphe Varin created this portrait of John Paul Jones as a print. The image of Jones embodies the late 19th-century French fascination with American Revolutionary figures, particularly those who challenged British naval power. Varin, working in a period marked by French nationalism and colonial ambitions, perhaps saw in Jones a figure who disrupted the existing world order. The print as a medium allowed for the wide distribution of such images, contributing to the construction of national heroes and the propagation of certain political ideals. To understand this artwork, we can look at French political cartoons and popular literature of the time, alongside naval histories. The study of these resources will unveil how figures like Jones were reimagined to serve contemporary socio-political narratives. Art is never made in a vacuum, it is always the product of complex social and institutional forces.