Elisabeth Stuart Kurfürstin Von Der Pfalz 1649

This is a portrait of Elisabeth Stuart, made by Gerard van Honthorst using oil on canvas. Honthorst has expertly captured the sheen of her jewelry and the soft texture of her fur-lined gown. Pearls, lace, gemstones - these materials are integral to the statement of power and status that the painting makes. But consider the labor involved in their production. The pearls would have been harvested by divers, the lace painstakingly crafted by hand, the gemstones mined and polished. Even the artist’s materials – the pigments ground from precious minerals, the linen canvas woven on a loom – speak to a world of commerce and craft. The final product disguises the labor involved in its production, reinforcing a sense of aristocratic ease. Paintings like this remind us that so-called fine art is deeply entangled with processes of making, the history of materials, and the social conditions of their creation.