Verkoper van wijn 1660

Editor: Here we have Giuseppe Maria Mitelli's "Verkoper van wijn," or "Wine Seller," made around 1660. It’s an etching, a type of print. It seems pretty straightforward – just a man carrying a whole stack of what look like barrels. What strikes me is how physical it seems; you can almost feel the weight he's carrying. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The immediate draw is indeed the figure's burden, the materiality of those wine barrels and the labor involved in their transport. Etchings like this, particularly when circulated as prints, highlight not just the subject matter, but also the process of reproduction itself. Who had access to this image, and what commentary does it make on the process of material distribution in seventeenth-century society? Consider the relationship between the hand that creates the print and the hand that carries the wine. Editor: So you’re saying it’s not just *about* the wine seller, but about who sees this image and how they understand his work? Were prints like this common among, say, merchants themselves? Curator: Precisely! Were these images luxury goods, commodities enjoyed by the same people consuming the wine being sold? And think about the artistic labor. Mitelli was creating a commodity, the etching, for consumption as well. This etching circulated and played a role in shaping perceptions and potentially, consumption patterns within society. What is also curious is the choice to represent labour in art and, to produce more copies from one print? What statement might Mitelli making with such medium choice? Editor: I never really thought about prints as having such a direct relationship to consumption itself, both of the image and the goods being depicted! Thanks for helping me see this work in a new light. Curator: Indeed! By examining the means of production, the materiality of the artwork itself, and the social context in which it was created, we reveal so much more than what’s immediately apparent.