Portret van Louis Xavier Auguet de Saint-Sylvain, baron van Los Valles 1836

Curator: Well, here's a rather handsome fellow! The work is titled "Portret van Louis Xavier Auguet de Saint-Sylvain, baron van Los Valles," made in 1836 by Antoine Maurin. It’s an engraving, which is something you don't see enough of these days. Editor: There’s something about that steely gaze paired with the frothy, almost playful collar... it feels strangely vulnerable. Is it just me, or does he look like he’s trying a little too hard to appear important? Curator: Perhaps! The interesting thing about portraits like these, especially engravings reproduced en masse, is how they circulated ideas of power and status. This Baron, this image was deliberately consumed and displayed as a status symbol. He becomes a representation of aristocracy, for better or worse. Editor: "For better or worse"—love the acknowledgement! I bet most of the copies landed with wealthy admirers. Still, there is this melancholic air that is hard to ignore... it is the slight downward curve of his lips, I wonder what occupied him... Curator: As for those lips, they perhaps hold a secret of courtly life during that period, which was hardly a picnic. These portraits tend to freeze a specific, curated public image. What they don't give away are all the anxieties, intrigues, and shifting social dynamics of the era. Editor: Absolutely! And doesn't that just remind us how constructed these historical portrayals often were, or perhaps even still are? One wonders if there were any back-and-forths with the engraver on how he wished to be seen by society, a controlled performance as the image was being created... Curator: Absolutely, just imagine the baron instructing Antoine Maurin, "A bit more gravitas there!" But even more, there is a whole industry and art market at work in getting his persona circulated into drawing rooms throughout Europe, which becomes an intricate game of power itself! Editor: Hmm. Now I am thinking about the power of the gaze in general, its psychological effect in the making of one's self-image. Looking at the portrait one more time... it does seem like his stare softens, just a little, giving more depth to what lies behind the collar. Curator: A beautiful meditation indeed. This Baron from the past, beckoning us from across the centuries. Editor: Perhaps reminding us to never take a portrait, or a legacy, entirely at face value!