Portret van Christoffel van Swol, gouverneur-generaal van Nederlands-Indië 1709 - 1726

Curator: Oh, I find this one quite curious, don't you think? There's something almost unsettling about it. Editor: Unsettling in what way? To me, it evokes the stiffness and formality of power. But let me set the scene; what we have here is an engraving from sometime between 1709 and 1726, a portrait of Christoffel van Swol, who was governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. Curator: That explains a lot, actually. It does reek of the era! And something in his gaze is… calculating? And what's that he's holding? A scroll? Or a spyglass, perhaps, turned into a baton of command? There's a slight sneer about him... or is that just my projection? Editor: Maybe both? Given his role, that scroll likely represents treaties or edicts—the apparatus of colonial governance. His expression could mirror the complex morality of the period, the clash between purported civility and brutal exploitation. He looks like he's thinking he's superior to the viewer! Curator: Definitely superior, there’s no argument here. And you’re so right; it’s the power dynamic of that gaze. I find his curled wig oddly endearing amidst the sternness, a strange little attempt at fashionable normalcy, a bit of playful folly within all this. Don't you feel that almost baroque portraits have an element of comedy? Editor: It's true. These portraits tend to reveal more than they intend to, highlighting not only the sitter’s status, but the contradictions of the historical moment. He may look composed, but there is certainly some moral and cultural corruption at play in the colonies at the time, for sure! This wasn’t really a laughing matter to a lot of people. Curator: The shadows are certainly striking here. The artist is drawing such incredible attention to his face by using the gray space so masterfully, highlighting the man's personality as he sees it. Very cunning. The face really carries the eye around. Editor: It is the artist Dirk Jongman showing off a bit, isn’t it? He understood that in depicting van Swol, he was contributing to a larger narrative—a visual language of colonial authority, one still worth unpacking and confronting today. A narrative with huge political consequences for indigenous people across the world! Curator: Yes, a visual language that speaks volumes, even centuries later. Editor: Exactly. So much so, that sometimes images from history can still come to haunt our present.