Recent comments about Bessler's two portraits caused me to review my thoughts about them. The second portrait appears to show someone in front of an organ along with a number of instruments which could belong to the organ-building industry or an alchemist or heaven knows what else. The reason why I tend to favour the organ-builder as the intended subject is because Bessler built organs and attributed much of his success to his knowledge of their construction.
What ever the intention, it is clear that the hole which has been cut so precisely in the second portrait to permit his face in the first portrait to show through with such startling accuracy, seems to me at least to indicate two things. Firstly the second portait already existed, or was commissioned by him; and secondly the first portrait was deliberately designed and executed to allow the precise positioning of his face to match that of the second portrait.
[EDIT - I forgot to say that I think the second portrait was not comissioned by Bessler because it has some text underneath it which has been carefully altered to convey a different meaning. So in my opinion the picture had already been produced some while before Bessler decided to use it.]
[EDIT - I forgot to say that I think the second portrait was not comissioned by Bessler because it has some text underneath it which has been carefully altered to convey a different meaning. So in my opinion the picture had already been produced some while before Bessler decided to use it.]
There are only six examples of the double portraits known to date and they are all produced with the same precision. This suggests that both portraits were designed to appear together and the first one was deliberately drawn with the subject's head an exact match to both size and position of that in the second one. Presumably Bessler wished to present himself in two lights, firstly as the persona in the first portrait and then as an alternative one in the second. The two personas (or personae if you prefer) being different ones.
Now I have commented before on the slightly odd look to Bessler's left arm and hand in the first portrait; it appears to be almost a disembodied part of Bessler himself. Also there is the impression that the arm originally was intended to come down from his left shoulder at a higher angle, meeting near to his right hand at approximately the same level. Bessler's coat or cloak shows slight rumpling along the higher line as if it originally contained the arm.
In my opinion the arm was later corrected to its current lower position to allow the inclusion of the alignment with the pentagram as shown in my web site at http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/bessler_s_portrait.html
There are further speculations about the portrait at http://www.theorffyreuscode.com/html/2nd_portrait.html which may be of interest in considering the meaning of the symbols in the first portrait.
The main question in my mind is this; what information do people think the symbols in the first portrait are intended to convey? A jar or gourd, a skull and a book. Any suggestions?
JC
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