Portret van Homerus 1566

This is René Boyvin's "Portret van Homerus," made sometime between 1525 and 1598, now held at the Rijksmuseum. As an engraver during the Northern Renaissance, Boyvin operated in a world of burgeoning humanism and renewed interest in classical antiquity. But who was seen to inherit this classical legacy? The image presents us with a romanticized version of Homer, the Ancient Greek poet—a figure who, like many historical ‘greats,’ has been largely understood through a Western, often white, male lens. What does it mean to claim Homer as one's own? How does this appropriation serve particular cultural or political agendas? Boyvin's engraving invites us to consider how historical figures are continually reimagined, each time reflecting the values and biases of the present. It prompts questions about who gets to tell the stories and whose voices are amplified in the grand narratives of history and art.