No. 5: Midshipman 1799

Curator: This is "No. 5: Midshipman," a print from 1799 by Henri Merke. What strikes you about it? Editor: It's quite detailed, considering it's a print. The midshipman seems almost meticulously drawn, but there’s something subtly humorous about the way he's depicted, like a caricature, which is a printed image, multiplied using industrial means and available to a mass audience. What's your take? Curator: I agree about the humorous edge, but I’m more interested in its mass appeal. Think about who had access to prints like this. It wouldn't be the midshipman himself, most likely. Instead, it points to a burgeoning middle class with disposable income and an appetite for images, for entertainment tied to status. Editor: So, you're saying it’s not just about the subject of the print but more about the *consumption* of it? How the emerging middle class displayed art in their houses, as status objects, even if a caricature. Curator: Precisely. The means of producing images—printing techniques—democratized art, to a degree, but also commodified social class, making it visible, material. How do you think that material access affects the perception of social classes and hierarchy? Editor: That’s fascinating, it makes it like owning the image means owning part of the perceived identity... It kind of removes the distance from the source to the receiver! Now when I look at it, the seemingly innocent portrait unveils another message. Curator: It is the fascinating double edge of these kind of representations. And in the same way they helped to generate identities, they contribute to perpetuate social biases of the era.