Antiope Surprised by Jupiter c. 17th century

Curator: Editor: This is Jan Gerritsz van Bronchorst's "Antiope Surprised by Jupiter." It's a small print, quite dark, and the rendering of Antiope is... well, unflattering. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: I'm immediately drawn to the economics of its production. Prints like this were often made for a burgeoning middle class; consider the accessibility of the myth and the labor involved in creating multiples for consumption. How does the act of reproduction influence the value we assign it? Editor: So, you're saying its value lies in its mass production rather than its artistic merit? Curator: It's more nuanced than that. The act of reproducing images democratized art. But it also commodified mythological narratives, making them products of labor and exchange. Interesting, don't you think? Editor: I never thought about it that way. Seeing art as part of a larger economic system changes everything. Curator: Exactly! Every brushstroke, every etching line, is also a unit of labor within a market.