Fotoreproductie van een ets van een portret van Johannes Cornelisz. Silvius door Rembrandt van Rijn before 1853

This is a photographic reproduction made by Bisson Frères sometime between 1852 and 1863, of an etching by Rembrandt, picturing Johannes Cornelisz. Silvius. Consider this image as a work of reproductive media. The photograph is a copy of an etching, which itself serves as a kind of reproduction of an individual. What does it mean to copy an image? Photography in nineteenth-century France was becoming more accessible and was used to reproduce images of artworks to disseminate them. But it was also a moment of defining art's unique qualities in relation to this new technology. Photography and print media allowed images to be circulated more widely. This changed the way people gained access to art and information. To understand this image, we need to consider the history of both photography and printmaking. The institutions of art, like museums and galleries, played a key role in shaping these technologies. These institutions also shape the way we understand art's role in society.