Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau, German Statesman, Engraved Portrait

About this sheet

An original antique engraved portrait of Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau, German statesman.

Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau was a German statesman. Portraits of public figures of this kind were issued in their own day for admirers, colleagues and fellow citizens, and they survive as a record of how a community chose to present the people it respected.

Engraving was the principal medium of the printed portrait for three centuries. The image is cut into a metal plate, inked and printed under heavy pressure, and the engraver builds up the form of a face through the spacing and swelling of the lines, which is why a well engraved portrait rewards close looking.

This sheet comes from a gathering of portraits from across Europe and across two and a half centuries, in engraving, etching and lithography. Portrait prints have been collected in their own right since the eighteenth century, when James Granger's Biographical History of England of 1769 set off a fashion for illustrating books with portraits of the people named in them, and they are still collected today for the sitter, for the maker and for the face itself.

A single portrait frames well in a narrow moulding with a generous mat, and a group of them hung together, whether by period, by profession or simply by the strength of the faces, makes one of the most satisfying walls there is for a study, a library, a landing or a dining room.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, faint stains and a pencil inscription in the lower margin; the engraved image itself is clean.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.