Vignet til Tordenskjolds levnedsbeskrivelse 1747 - 1750

Odvardt Helmoldt de Lode made this print, entitled Vignet til Tordenskjolds levnedsbeskrivelse, sometime in the mid-18th century. It depicts the naval hero Peter Tordenskjold, ennobled for his service to the Danish Crown. We see Tordenskjold receiving honors, possibly in reference to the posthumous publication of his biography. These honors are being bestowed by allegorical figures, classical gods and cupids, all visual devices meant to augment the status of the biography's subject. This print exemplifies the visual strategies through which institutions, whether the monarchy or the book trade, manufacture a cult of personality. Through formal analysis and historical research, one can uncover how political and cultural institutions work to create heroes. Such images are not neutral records, but tools for social construction.