Vier voorstellingen over de vindingrijkheid van de mens 1774

Gottfried Chodowiecki made this print, titled *Vier voorstellingen over de vindingrijkheid van de mens*, which translates as *Four representations of the ingenuity of man*, using etching around the 1770s in Germany. The artist uses a comic strip layout to present four vignettes that portray various aspects of human invention and progress. In the bottom left scene, we can see a group of people watching as someone weighs boxes that say 'doses'. The scene on the right is less clear, but seems to depict people escaping from a building. Prints like this, widely circulated and relatively inexpensive, played an important role in the Enlightenment by disseminating new ideas, scientific discoveries, and social commentary to a broad audience. Chodowiecki was an important figure in the Berlin Enlightenment, who used his art to promote ideals of reason, progress, and social reform. To truly understand this print, we'd need to delve into the history of medicine, or of prison reform in late 18th century Germany. Art history is never just about the art object itself.