Tuin met centrale parterre met in de hoeken fleur de lis c. 1583 - 1640

This print depicts a garden with a central parterre, fleur-de-lis in the corners, and was made by an anonymous artist. The method of production is key to understanding this image. It’s an engraving, meaning that the design was incised into a metal plate, inked, and then printed onto paper. The relative ease of this process compared to, say, weaving, allowed for wide dissemination of imagery. Note the incredible detail achieved through this process. Consider the immense labor required to maintain a garden like this: the digging, planting, trimming, all precisely executed. While the print itself involved skilled handwork by the engraver, its subject matter reveals much about the socio-economic context of its creation. In a very real sense, this image testifies to the power of the patron, and their ability to marshal the labor of others. By understanding the material processes and social context of this engraving, we see how even a seemingly straightforward image of a garden is deeply intertwined with issues of labor, class, and power.