Portret van Cornelis van der Vijver 1836 - 1892

Bernardus Theodorus van Loo created this portrait of Cornelis van der Vijver using a lithographic process. Notice how the composition is structured around a play of textures and tonal values. The artist masterfully uses hatching and cross-hatching to model form and create subtle gradations of light and shadow. Van Loo employs several semiotic devices to convey meaning. The sitter's Masonic sash, for example, acts as a signifier of his social and intellectual affiliations, communicating values of brotherhood, morality and enlightenment. The artist's structural approach to portraiture results in an image that is both a likeness and a symbolic representation. It invites us to consider how identity is constructed through visual codes and social contexts. Ultimately, the interplay of textures and tonal values in this lithograph challenges fixed meanings and reflects broader artistic and philosophical concerns about representation and the individual.