Henry Wolf, born Eckwersheim, Alsace - Bartholomeo Bongo - 1914 - T-Shirt

This is a formal portrait of a seated, bearded man, rendered in fine copperplate engraving with the precision of a sixteenth-century printed plate.

Visual Elements & Composition

The design is built on a tall vertical rectangle, with the seated figure at its centre. He wears a dark, fur-trimmed robe and a cap, and his posture is upright and still. Beside him, an arched recess frames a small landscape vignette of a tower and a house. A coat of arms with tassels anchors the lower area. The palette stays within warm paper, dark brown, sepia grey, light tan and charcoal, so the lines of the engraving carry all the tone. Lettering runs across the plate: BARTHOLOMEVS BONGVS.I.V.D., CAN.ET PRIMICER.CATH.BERG., PROTHONOT.APLICVS.COMES ET AEQ., and the date ANNO.DNI.M.D.LXXXIIII.

Meaning & Symbolism

The inscriptions name the sitter and list his offices: canon and primicerius of the cathedral at Bergen, apostolic protonotary, and count. The date on the plate places the image in 1584, and the arms, robe and framed landscape follow the conventions of the period's portrait prints, where status was shown through dress, heraldry and setting. Henry Wolf, born in Eckwersheim, Alsace, made this work in 1914, and his practice was a record of people and their surroundings. Here he recreates an older printed form, so the image speaks to both eras at once.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A tee lets this portrait be seen at close range and in motion. The figure sits at the centre of the chest, so the robe, cap and bearded profile read clearly as you move, while the arched vignette and coat of arms fall into the lower part of the shirt. The fine linework rewards a look up close, and the monochrome palette keeps the composition calm and legible from a few steps away.