Spijzigen van de hongerigen before 1571

This print by Pieter Nagel, titled *Spijzigen van de hongerigen*, or *Feeding the Hungry*, is made of ink on paper. The dense etching captures a scene of charity, but the linear technique makes it look like it could also be illustrating an economic equation. In the 16th century, printmaking was itself a new mode of production, one which could bring images like this to a wide audience. Note how the artist has used simple means to give the scene its impact. There is nothing painterly here; no chiaroscuro, just the insistent lines, like ruled accounting paper. It is a fitting aesthetic for a society in transition from feudalism to capitalism, where charitable giving becomes a kind of investment in the social order. The print thus embodies a tension: handmade, yet also mass-produced; rendering both individual suffering and a bird’s eye view of a changing economic landscape.