Zelfportret van Jordanus Hoorn 1763 - 1833

Jordanus Hoorn created this self-portrait using graphite and colored chalk. It shows the artist in profile, wearing a rather eccentric hat. Hoorn worked during a period of significant social upheaval. The Dutch Republic had recently fallen to French revolutionary forces, ushering in a time of political and cultural change. One might ask what is the public role of art in such a time? His choice of self-portraiture suggests an interest in individual identity and artistic expression and also perhaps a challenge to the established norms of portraiture at the time. Was he influenced by the Enlightenment emphasis on reason and individualism? Or perhaps by the artistic styles of the Rococo or the emerging Neoclassical movements? Further investigation of Hoorn’s life and the artistic milieu of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the Netherlands, could shed light on the social conditions that shaped his artistic production. The meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional context.