Silhouetportret van Simon van Someren Brand 1800 - 1802

This is Antoni Zürcher's "Silhouetportret van Simon van Someren Brand," a silhouette portrait, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. These kinds of portraits were popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, offering a quick and affordable way to capture a person’s likeness. Consider the cultural weight of portraiture at this time. Who gets remembered? How are they remembered? Silhouette portraits democratized representation to some extent, but how much access did different social classes truly have? Here, the sharp contrast emphasizes Brand’s profile, literally casting him in shadow, while highlighting the texture of his fur cap and the details of his clothing. The text on the base speaks to Brand’s virtue and piety, reflecting the values of his time. But what do we, today, make of these values? How do we grapple with the emotional complexities of remembrance, the tension between public persona and private self, especially when viewing historical figures through a contemporary lens?