Reproductie van een gravure van een portret van Otto van Veen door Egidius Rucholle en Gertruida van Veen before 1877

Joseph Maes made this reproduction of a 17th century engraving of Otto van Veen. The original engraving was created by Egidius Rucholle and Gertruida van Veen, who was Otto van Veen's sister. Portraits like this were instrumental in shaping historical memory, especially for those of a certain class and status. Otto van Veen was a painter in the service of the Hapsburgs in Brussels and is best known today as the teacher of Peter Paul Rubens. By reproducing this engraving centuries later, Maes engages in a dialogue with the past. He revives and reinterprets the artistic and cultural values associated with the sitter and original artists. The choice to reproduce a portrait of a male artist by a 19th century male artist is a reflection on the canon of art history, a canon that only recently began to make space for women artists like Gertruida van Veen. Maes’s work invites us to reflect on the stories we tell about the past, and how these stories reflect on the values of the present.