W. Linnig, Friedrich Preller, 19th-Century, Drypoint Etching

Willem Linnig (1842 Antwerp - 1890 ibid.): Friedrich Preller the Elder (1804-1878), 19th century, Drypoint etchingTechnique: Drypoint etching on PaperInscription: Upper right signed in the printing plate: "WLinnig Junior". Date: 19th centuryDescription: Willem Linnig's etched portrait of the then widely famous painter Friedrich Preller reveals an interesting pictorial strategy that only becomes apparent upon closer inspection. Linnig created the portrait after a portrait photograph by Hertel in Weimar, which was probably taken in the late 1870s. There we see Preller sitting on a chair with a cane and cap, inverted in relation to our etching. The photograph emphasises the topicality of the scene and already vouches for absolute authenticity in the medium itself. Linnig, on the other hand, turns this claim around in his graphic work: The old artist with the striking beard appears in a kind of stone medallion on which traces of weathering and cracks indicate that it is supposed to be an archaeological relic from days gone by. Preller's portrait is thus found and depicted in an imagined future. Through this shifted timeline, both Preller's historical greatness as a monument of the past is made clear and the oblivion to which Preller is exposed as a representative of a heroic historicism in times of incipient modernity. Linnig had a famous precursor for this approach: Charles Meryon depicted himself in a very similar way in his series of prints Eaux-fortes sur Paris. As a weathered portrait relief, he presents himself as a representative of a bygone era.Person: Friedrich Preller the Elder (1804 Eisenach - 1878 Weimar)