Dronning Louise 1700

Curator: Let's discuss this engraving, "Dronning Louise," created around 1700 by Johan Friedlein, which is part of the Statens Museum for Kunst collection. It’s a striking example of Baroque portraiture using print medium. Editor: It feels so… distant. I mean, technically distant—that fine-lined style. Cold almost, despite the obvious attempts to portray regality and importance. Like peering through time itself, you know? Curator: Yes, the very crispness speaks to the characteristics of engraving and the values that were being celebrated: precision and enduring ideals. Look at how the meticulous detail in the dress and hair suggests the power and authority she held. The circular frame and inscription further emphasize her status. Editor: Power is definitely what they were aiming for with that hair, like a frosted mountain range. The inscription, what does that say? I love when artworks speak directly. Curator: It seems to suggest Louise's virtue and piety, almost as if wanting to elevate this particular monarch with comparison with Rom, and GriechenLand, calling her an example of perfection, it declares, in Northern wonder. In this picture Louise seems to embody those very baroque ideals, I think, but for a political scope. Editor: I like your mention of enduring ideals, you know, because even though that fashion is totally out of date, the urge to freeze an image, fix it in a perfect moment, that’s still there in every Instagram filter today. But look at the eyes, the artist captures something…wistful? A bit resigned, maybe? Curator: Indeed. This points out a contrast of capturing something in time with all that it entails in a historical frame. Louise's portrait speaks to the enduring power of art to transcend temporal distance and to allow introspection about representation and humanity. Editor: Right. An artwork of a person of a particular era becoming a mirror and a meditation in our time. That’s kind of fantastic, isn't it?