Portret van apotheker Chr. Eikendal c. 1851 - 1883

Johan Hendrik Hoffmeister made this portrait of pharmacist Chr. Eikendal, but we don’t know when. The image gives us insight into the world of 19th-century Dutch professionals. The pharmacist, in his understated yet respectable attire, is a figure of the rising middle class. Hoffmeister probably made it as a commission. But it tells us more than just who Eikendal was. The detailed linework indicates that this isn’t a painting but a lithograph. It probably wasn’t unique. Lithography allowed for the mass production of images and its impact on visual culture was enormous. It changed the economics of art, and portraiture became accessible to a wider segment of the population. To understand this work better, we could research the history of lithography and the rise of the middle class in the Netherlands. Art is always shaped by its social context.