Portret van Johannes van der Waaijen 1672 - 1721

Editor: We're now looking at a print from between 1672 and 1721, "Portret van Johannes van der Waaijen" by Jan van Munnickhuysen, housed here at the Rijksmuseum. It's an engraving of a man in an oval frame, looking quite serious. The level of detail achieved with engraving is fascinating to me. What strikes you when you see this portrait? Curator: Well, it whispers stories of the Dutch Golden Age, doesn't it? This era loved its portraits, and prints made them accessible. What’s most revealing to me, beyond the immediate impression of the man, is the inscribed text. Have you tried to decipher the inscription? Editor: I haven't, no! My Dutch isn’t that strong, unfortunately. Curator: Aha! But isn’t that interesting? We immediately look to the visual, but here the inscription shares his virtues. "Pastor Vigilantissimus", "most watchful shepherd". We can ponder: did his contemporaries read the inscription before, during, or after looking at the visual image of his face? I suspect it shaped their reception of his image powerfully! Editor: That's a fantastic point! It makes you think about how much we rely on visual cues today and perhaps overlook written context. Curator: Exactly! Perhaps that's a bit of vigilance we can adopt in our own looking. A double vigilance, for text and image, that’s been lying under our noses the whole time… Editor: I will be vigilant. Thanks!