Portret van de Schotse jurist James Mackintosh c. 1800 - 1851

This is Daniël Veelwaard’s portrait of the Scottish lawyer James Mackintosh. Mackintosh was a man of the Enlightenment, straddling the old world and the new. He was a doctor, a lawyer, a member of parliament, a professor, and a colonial administrator in India. He was a staunch Whig, a defender of liberty, and yet, as a man of his time, he remained enmeshed in the colonial project. Consider the weight of these contradictions as you look at Veelwaard’s print. The image presents us with a man of intellect and authority, yet the soft lines of the print render him approachable, almost vulnerable. His gaze is direct, seemingly inviting us to engage with the complexities of his character. In representing Mackintosh, Veelwaard captures not just an individual, but the spirit of an era grappling with its own ideals and hypocrisies.