Twee edelmannen in wapenrusting uit de elfde eeuw 1857

This print, "Two Noblemen in Armor from the Eleventh Century," resides in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, made by an anonymous artist. The work offers us a window into the artist's, and perhaps society's, fascination with the nobility and their accoutrements of power. Note the attention to detail in the rendering of the armor, these men are literally clad in their status. Who were these noblemen? Their identities are lost to time, rendered generic, which speaks volumes about the universalizing tendencies in historical representation. The artist invites us to reflect on how power is visually constructed and maintained, and reminds us that history, like art, is always a product of perspective and selection. What stories do we tell about ourselves, and who gets to tell them?