Dimensions: height 148 mm, width 89 mm
Copyright: Rijks Museum: Open Domain
Curator: This print, crafted sometime between 1680 and 1733, is entitled “Portret van Ulrich von Hutten," attributed to Johann Martin Bernigeroth. You can find it here at the Rijksmuseum. It's a baroque engraving. What strikes you first about it? Editor: You know, he looks rather… intense! The tight lines of the engraving emphasize a kind of stern, almost mournful quality. There’s a sense of contained energy about him. Also, the almost fussy details surrounding him amplify the portrait's regal air. Curator: I'd agree with the observation on contained energy, or tension. As a symbolic rendering, portraits often strive to imbue the subject with lasting values. The armorial crest hints at lineage and honor, while his garb, his chain, his distant gaze towards what is not seen… suggests a certain nobility of spirit linked with historical legacy. Editor: Right, that chain – it anchors him. Yet his eyes drift away from us, almost defying that grounding. There’s a real conflict between obligation and aspiration visualized there, no? Almost melancholic, yet piercing, defying what appears like an eternal cage around him. Curator: A fascinating tension you pinpoint. Ulrich von Hutten was indeed a complex figure, a knight, a humanist, a reformer. The portrait immortalizes the legacy and enduring significance of that inner struggle between tradition and change which encapsulates that early reformation moment. This very tension becomes encoded within the very fibers of this man's gaze. Editor: It's truly wonderful when a historical portrait reaches across the centuries to embody something enduring and recognizable in the human condition. Here's to those piercing eyes! Curator: Absolutely. It becomes an invitation to delve deeper into both history, and the human heart.
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