Portret van Joachim Ernst van Brandenburg-Ansbach op 20-jarige leeftijd 1625 - 1627

Curator: Well, what do we think of this chap, then? Editor: He looks incredibly serious, and somehow trapped—like he's been told to stand still for hours and his spirit's slowly draining. Curator: He does, doesn’t he? This engraving by Dominicus Custos depicts Joachim Ernst of Brandenburg-Ansbach at the ripe old age of twenty. It’s from sometime between 1625 and 1627, and hangs in the Rijksmuseum now. Editor: "Engraving" almost seems too delicate a word for something conveying such a somber presence. I mean, look at the ornamentation on his doublet, and that enormous ruffled collar; it almost suffocates him. All those elaborate details, and that curtain framing him? Total power play. Curator: Precisely! The piece practically screams status. And observe his attire – not just the fancy clothes, but the sword he grips so casually. The sword indicates his authority as a nobleman. Editor: Yet that bird – is that a falcon or a songbird? – sitting calmly on a sort of plinth softens it. There is almost something naive to the way the boy is positioned relative to his surroundings, maybe questioning inherited structures of power? It really offsets all that heavy baroque grandeur. Curator: You always manage to pull out the fascinating angles. Yes, a beautiful juxtaposition. Editor: Makes me wonder how he really felt, you know? What were his actual hopes and anxieties outside of dynastic pressures? Look at those sad eyes. I bet the boy hated posing for hours, wearing constricting cloths and a massive ruff that must have been horribly itchy. Curator: It makes you almost sorry for the poor fellow, in all of his gilded pomp. These historical images do that. I often feel sorry for both artist and model...It is funny because it strikes me how familiar is their discomfort, even if the material circumstances are vastly different from today's life! Editor: A poignant echo through centuries, definitely. Curator: Well, it’s something to mull over as we wander onwards, perhaps?