Portret van Paul Pellisson-Fontanier 1830

Curator: Right, let's talk about this print. What strikes you first about Bernard Romain Julien's 1830 engraving, titled "Portret van Paul Pellisson-Fontanier," held here at the Rijksmuseum? Editor: Well, it’s intensely detailed, and yet… somehow…flat. Almost like a really elaborate stamp. It has that feeling of a document, you know? Serious and… slightly severe. Curator: Yes, and that flatness speaks volumes, doesn't it? Engravings, by their nature, tend to flatten the subject. Here, look how the artist has meticulously built up tonal variations. In this context, what might flattening signify culturally? We often interpret depth as revealing truth, yet flattening offers us something different: a mask. Editor: Oh, I like that. The man *is* wearing a mask, or at least a very carefully constructed public face. Look at that wig, for instance! And the way the light catches his…well, *a* chin. He’s projecting power, importance. What was Pellisson-Fontanier known for? Curator: He was a writer and historiographer. Most notably for Louis XIV. Remember that portraiture of this era functioned less as individual likeness and more as vehicles for constructing an identity or a political message. See how Julien makes clever use of light to give the sitter both presence and importance. That calculated use of light and shadow plays with the established trope for royalty in portraits, even without color! Editor: I love how it feels… distant. It almost *demands* respect, doesn’t it? It reminds me how portraiture, then, was so linked to performance and constructing an idea of the self, of power. Curator: Precisely. We're looking at not just a portrait but a potent symbol that communicates established social hierarchies. Editor: The older I get the more interested I become in portraiture. It’s the closest we get to truly meeting someone long gone and considering their lived experience, even if it’s mediated. Thanks for helping me consider him as both present and absent. Curator: An insightful consideration, and I’m so glad that you noticed it too! Hopefully our listeners will have fresh eyes if they decide to seek him out themselves.