Jonge man met leeuwenvel over zijn hoofd, mogelijk Cadmus, bestrijdt een draak 1540 - 1556

Léon Davent created this engraving, 'Young Man Fighting a Dragon,' sometime in the mid-16th century. The image is achieved through the incisive action of a tool called a burin on a copper plate. The artist would have used this to physically remove slivers of metal, and create the image. Notice how the material and the process are completely interdependent. The starkness of the black lines, the build-up of detail through hatching, the very tonality of the print – all of this arises from the artist’s direct engagement with the metal. Consider, too, the labor involved. Each mark had to be carefully considered before being committed to the plate. The result is an image that can be reproduced, disseminated, and consumed. So while the skilled hand is evident, so too is the burgeoning logic of mass production. It reminds us that even in the Renaissance, art was deeply embedded in the changing world of labor and economics.