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Willem Linnig (1842 Antwerp - 1890 ibid.): Portrait of the painter Friedrich Preller the Elder (1804-1878), 19th century, Drypoint etching Technique: Drypoint etching on Paper Inscription: Upper right signed in the printing plate: "WLinnig Junior". Date: 19th century Description: Willem Linnig's etched portrait of the then widely famous painter Friedrich Preller reveals an interesting pictorial strategy that only becomes apparent on closer inspection. Linnig created the portrait after a portrait photograph by Hertel in Weimar, which was probably taken in the late 1870s. It shows Preller sitting on a chair with a cane and cap, reversed to our etching. The photograph emphasises the topicality of the scene and vouches for absolute authenticity in the medium itself. Linnig, on the other hand, reverses this claim in his graphic work: The old artist with the distinctive 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. This shifted timeline emphasises both Preller's historical greatness as a monument to the past and the oblivion to which Preller is exposed as a representative of heroic historicism in the dawn of modernity. Linnig had a famous predecessor 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) Painter, etcher and from 1844 professor at the 'Fürstliche freie Zeichenschule' in Weimar. Keywords: Willem Linnig; Portrait Friedrich Preller; Image strategy; Portrait photography; Hertel; Authenticity; Graphics; Stone medallion; Archaeological relic; Past; Monument; Historicism; Modernism; Charles Meryon; Eaux-fortes sur Paris; Self-portrait; Weathered portrait relief; Timeline;, 19th century, Romanticism, Portraits, Germany, Size: Paper: 22,9 cm x 17,2 cm (9 x 6,8 in), Depiction: 18,1 cm x 13,2 cm (7,1 x 5,2 in)