Portret van Jeremias Alberti op 56-jarige leeftijd

About this artwork

Met lofdicht in het Latijn.

Art Historical Context

This engraving by Johann Dürr captures Jeremias Alberti at the age of fifty-six in 1660, presenting a dignified portrait typical of seventeenth-century European printmaking. Created as a modest sheet measuring just 175 by 130 millimeters, the work likely served both an individual keepsake and as an illustration for a book or commemorative publication. Dürr, a skilled German engraver, employed the precise lines and tonal contrasts of the medium to convey texture in clothing and a lifelike presence in the sitter’s features. The inclusion of a Latin laudatory poem beneath the portrait adds a layer of intellectual and social significance. Such verses were common in the period to celebrate the subject’s virtues, learning, or public standing, transforming the image into a statement of esteem rather than a simple likeness. Engravings like this one allowed wider circulation of portraits among educated circles at a time when painted originals remained accessible only to the elite. Together, the visual and textual elements reflect the era’s fascination with personal legacy and scholarly reputation. Today the print offers viewers a window into how seventeenth-century individuals wished to be remembered—through carefully crafted images paired with words of praise.

About the Artist

Johann Dürr · 1600–1663

Johann Dürr (1600–1663) was a German copperplate engraver who worked primarily in Weimar during the mid-17th century, producing prints for court and scholarly patrons during the tumultuous period of the Thirty Years' War. Born in 1600, Dürr's career spanned one of the most devastating periods in German history, when religious conflict and military campaigns brought widespread destruction to German...