Capital Letter XI c. 16th century

Editor: Here we have "Capital Letter XI" by an anonymous artist. It's a woodcut and very small. The detail is amazing, but it makes me wonder about the labor involved. What stands out to you? Curator: Consider the purpose of this work. It's a repeatable image, meant for mass production. The artist, likely an artisan, becomes part of a larger system of production and consumption. How does that change our perception of its "artistic" value? Editor: So, you're saying its value lies in its function within a larger commercial process rather than individual expression? Curator: Precisely. The material--the wood, the ink--and the process of carving and printing are foregrounded. We see art embedded in a network of labor and material exchange. Editor: I never thought about initial caps in books this way. It's more than decoration. Curator: Exactly! It's a tangible artifact of a specific economic and social system.