Portret van Antonius Brufeius de Müglitio 1774 - 1782

Andreas Niederhofer made this portrait of Antonius Brufeius de Müglitio through etching, a printmaking technique with roots in the early 16th century. Consider the public role of art at this time. Printmaking made images more widely available; but, even in reproduction, portraiture remained the domain of the elite. Here, the trappings of wealth and power communicate status: the sitter’s garments signal the importance of the church; the family crest below connects him to a noble line; the formal pose and oval frame evoke aristocratic painting traditions. The image was made in the late 18th century, a time when social hierarchies were increasingly contested. Even as he reproduces traditional symbols of authority, Niederhofer produces this image in a relatively new medium, making it accessible to a wider audience. To understand the nuances of this work more fully, we can draw on a range of resources, from historical archives to studies of the print market in 18th-century Europe. Through such research, we can better appreciate the complex social and institutional forces that shaped its creation and reception.