Christian Leinberger

You'd spot Christian Leinberger’s portraits by how they trap the sitter’s stare like a held breath. His 1770 print of Johann Friedrich Czekelius von Rosenfeld shows the man’s lace cuffs and powdered wig, but it’s the eyes that unsettle you—pupils so dark they look wet. Leinberger wasn’t after flattery; he was after the moment right before the subject blinks. Start with this print if you want to see how an artist could turn a stiff 18th-century portrait into something alive enough to make you hesitate before walking on.