Portret van Charles Édouard Armand-Dumaresq before 1881

Curator: This intriguing work, dating from before 1881, presents us with a portrait of Charles Édouard Armand-Dumaresq. It appears to be a drawing, perhaps with pen or engraving techniques, giving it a detailed, almost old-fashioned feel. Editor: Oh, my goodness, it’s so ornate. Like peering into a Victorian fever dream, isn't it? There's this sense of hidden depths and excessive detail swirling around this very proper looking man. Curator: Absolutely, that ornamental framing pulls you in. You see this interplay of a rather serious photographic portrait nestled within the lively exuberance of the sketched surround. Editor: The contrast really sings. I find my eyes dancing from the cherubic figures at the top to the gentleman in the middle and it feels like they’re each in their own little play, completely oblivious to each other. I feel this tension in the work. Is that intentional, do you think? Curator: It’s quite possible. I believe there is an intriguing narrative element too—this blending of the timeless artistry of engraving with what was at that time, the cutting edge technology of photography. It merges personal, artistic expressions of time in a physical object. Editor: Mmm, I see it! Time capsule kind of magic, then? You've got the swirling, fantastical sketched border, filled with almost classical figures, right there beside our buttoned-up, moustached, very grounded subject. Curator: Indeed, there's a captivating dance between fantasy and reality playing out on this page. It draws out contemplation on who this Armand-Dumaresq might be, to warrant such treatment. What aspects of his persona is this meant to reflect? The sketch offers him an immortal and idealized shell and one is forced to wonder if he recognizes himself in this frame. Editor: A very good question, the man appears rather somber in his photograph. Did he perhaps think all the decoration too much? We might never know his views, but this artwork presents a riddle through composition, and it makes you want to know him all the same.