Duitsers in een veldslag 1633

Curator: Look at the intricate chaos rendered in Johann Wilhelm Baur's "Germans in Battle," a print created through etching in 1633. Currently housed at the Rijksmuseum, the print offers a chaotic vision. Editor: It certainly does feel chaotic! There’s a frantic energy in how the lines clash and collide. The composition leads the eye across a landscape of struggling bodies. Curator: The baroque style is certainly evident here, a choice Baur made that departs from a traditional high-art form through reproducible prints and etching. What do you think is being said about the accessibility of art through this medium and style? Editor: Well, focusing on formal qualities, I’m struck by the tonal range achieved through the line work alone. The variations in hatching create depth and define the forms, almost like chiaroscuro, pulling certain figures out from the tumult. Semiotically speaking, that depth cues the viewer towards intended focal point through contrasts in light and shadow. Curator: Baur's skill as a printmaker is evident; yet the narrative it presents cannot be separated from the labor, circulation, and material context of the time. Print allowed wider audiences to consume the depictions and meanings found here. It begs the question of who the artist made the print for and if he perhaps did so in support of, or in opposition to, a certain side of conflict. Editor: Undoubtedly. And if you delve into its deeper symbolism, that tumultuousness you describe may represent the real and chaotic state of conflict and warfare. Notice how it renders human subjects as almost animalistic with how closely entwined they are to each other. Even the horses look stricken with terror! Curator: Absolutely, the scene resonates with the realities of violence, a potent critique, I believe, and facilitated by the relative ease and distribution made possible by printmaking techniques. Editor: Ultimately, Baur used formal methods that would effectively translate well into print, and communicates a striking and effective picture, or "battaglia," with an underlying story about German conflict. Curator: Agreed, and his artistic choice regarding style, subject and materiality creates both accessibility and a platform for complex and, perhaps at the time, subversive, views. Editor: Indeed, there’s far more depth here than immediately meets the eye.