Portrait - Counterfeit - Likeness 3

[syedellie]

Indeed, instead of the likeness of a ruler, coins during the early Middle
Ages would often carry the "imago" or "effigies" of a Roman emperor in
whose dynastic or official succession the ruler of the day - by "translatio
imperii" - saw himself as standing." The actual appearance of a living
prince was therefore less important than the political and social institution
within whose tradition he wished, or demanded, to be seen.
This did not change until the late Middle Ages, when it became unacceptable
to substitute one likeness for another. One may be quite right to
doubt whether an early French profile portrait of King John the Good,
painted c. 1360 at the same time as the portrait of Rudolf IV
of Habsburg, really shows the person named in the inscription. However,
scepticism of this kind is perhaps less appropriate with regard to Jan van
Eyck's Tymotheos portrait especially since the artist has attempted
to dispel such doubts from the outset. The inscription LEAL
SOUVENIR - loyal remembrance - certifies the authenticity of the portrait;
its purpose, not unlike that of a notary's attestation, is to verify the
identity of the likeness and the sitter.

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