Die den spaarpot aan scherven slaat, is zijn penningsken kwijt, eer hij het kent

This print, made by Hendrick Goltzius, likely in the late 16th century, is an engraving – a process that involves incising an image into a metal plate, inking it, and then pressing it onto paper. The material qualities of the copper plate, being hard and inflexible, would have demanded great skill from the engraver. Look closely, and you'll see that the image is constructed from thousands of tiny cuts. The density and direction of these lines create tone, texture, and form. The lines are not unlike the marks of a pen or pencil, yet they are made through a physically demanding, repetitive action. Interestingly, engraving was a technique often used for mass production, but this image of broken savings, and the loss of labor, serves as a moralizing comment on spending, and perhaps, on the new economic realities of the time. It reminds us that even in seemingly simple images, materials, making, and context are deeply intertwined.