Veldslag: de maand augustus en het element vuur 1623 - 1653

Editor: So, we’re looking at Pieter Nolpe’s “Veldslag: de maand augustus en het element vuur”, made sometime between 1623 and 1653. It’s an etching, and it just explodes with…action, right? So much detail rendered in ink. What jumps out at you? Curator: I see an etching made during a tumultuous period. I focus less on ‘action’ and more on production. What means were used to create the etched plate? What acids, what papers were chosen to mass produce this image? I want to consider the consumption of this artwork – what does it say about how warfare and perhaps also Baroque sensibilities were disseminated as a consumable item during this era? Editor: Consumable...interesting. I was thinking about the chaotic composition, how figures tumble out of the scene. Do you see the narrative playing with Baroque dynamism at all? Curator: Dynamic it may be, but through the *means* of production the artist is reflecting the labor and societal demands of representing war through a new language for printmaking in early modern Europe. We are not just consuming content here, but also the rapid development of production through image distribution in early modern Europe. We need to understand the artist’s *means* of production if we want to understand Baroque. Editor: So you're less interested in the story itself and more in how it was physically created and circulated? Curator: Precisely. By understanding the processes and the consumption of such imagery, we begin to appreciate its historical agency. Did you notice the kind of paper that was chosen here? How was it distributed? Who handled this artwork? And *what kind of labor went into mass producing* war scenes through prints such as this one? Editor: That definitely gives me a lot to consider...I hadn't really thought about the labor involved in something like this. Thanks for offering a new perspective. Curator: Likewise. Looking at the image through this lens enriches our experience, adding depth beyond what we traditionally consider the artwork itself.