Portret van Thomas Bartholinus 1651

Editor: This engraving from 1651 by Jonas Suyderhoef, titled "Portret van Thomas Bartholinus", strikes me as conveying a sense of intellectual intensity, perhaps even melancholy. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Note how the image anchors itself to Bartholinus, a professor of medicine, specifically anatomy. In that period, medicine teetered between ancient humors and emerging science. Portraits, therefore, were never just likenesses; they broadcast status, allegiances, and intellectual leanings. Notice his elaborate yet restrained clothing and that ornate pendant - symbolic of wealth but, importantly, intellectual curiosity and patronage of the sciences. Editor: I see, it's all quite deliberate. The choice of specific symbolic items and perhaps even the pose. Curator: Precisely. And let us not disregard what the printing press accomplished; mass distribution of ideas and faces meant figures such as Bartholinus could occupy a space beyond their immediate circles. Can we then say that Suyderhoef and van Mander, perhaps subconsciously, participated in enshrining this emerging concept of scientific celebrity? Editor: So it's not simply a portrait but an emblem of a changing intellectual landscape? That makes it even more interesting than I first thought. Curator: Indeed. And next time we see portraits of scientists and thinkers, consider what values are promoted via their likeness. The image then goes from personal representation to collective identity. Editor: Fascinating, I’ll keep an eye out! Thank you.