Portret van Johann Zieger op 65-jarige leeftijd 1704 - 1711

August Christian Fleischmann created this print of Johann Zieger at 65, but we don’t know exactly when. It presents us with a set of visual codes that locate Zieger within a specific cultural and institutional milieu. We see Zieger, a bookseller and member of the “Great Council” in Nuremberg, Germany, framed in an oval portrait and posed above a weeping figure draped in classical garb. The backdrop, filled with books and busts, positions him as a man of learning and civic importance. This is a visual language intended to convey status and respectability in the 18th century. Who was Zieger, beyond this image? Did his bookselling lean towards the conservative or progressive end of the spectrum? What did his role in the "Great Council" entail? The answers to these questions lie in the archives of Nuremberg. A historian can begin to piece together a richer picture of Zieger and the social structures that shaped his world. Art's meaning is contingent on the social and institutional contexts in which it is made and viewed.