Medaille met portret van Friedrich Stammann after 1833

Curator: This engraving from after 1833 is titled "Medaille met portret van Friedrich Stammann" and was created by Achille Collas. I'm immediately drawn to the texture. It's all in the meticulous layering of fine lines. Editor: It does strike a somewhat melancholic pose, doesn't it? That crisp profile and delicate use of hatching almost seems to monumentalize his features—a kind of quiet academic classicism in print. Curator: Yes, the meticulous engraving process lends itself to idealizing its subject and producing copies and thereby reproduces a certain type of man, and the power he presumably has in society. A "Friedrich Stammann" would likely be someone of importance whose image needs distribution for political or commercial leverage. This piece then isn’t merely aesthetic; it is also about labour and dissemination. Editor: The form here echoes your point precisely. That smooth, perfectly round frame sets off the precise, sharp rendering of his head, especially the contrast of his intense stare and the rather foppish, voluminous curls of hair—doesn't this contrast imply tension? Almost warring ideas about what kind of presence this man is supposed to convey? Curator: Interesting, and perhaps, the form itself— a round medal—imitates currency which is itself about production and circulation. So you have the engraving imitating a form connected to labor while simultaneously capturing this man who surely gained from someone else’s. Editor: Right. I see how these engravings were more than mere likenesses. And I didn’t see the economic side, as well. Curator: Well, neither did I at first. Now the social implications of Collas' technical process—creating this highly reproducible image—become central to how we interpret Stammann. I find that truly illuminating. Editor: Agreed. Looking at it again now, it speaks much more about industrial culture. I’m off to research the connections between early printmaking and political power!