Portret van Johannes Aventinus 1597 - 1599

Editor: Here we have Robert Boissard’s "Portret van Johannes Aventinus" created between 1597 and 1599. It's an engraving, so the lines are very precise and create this intense sense of detail. What's striking to me is how the printmaking process itself becomes so evident; you can almost feel the pressure of the tool on the plate. What catches your eye about it? Curator: It's compelling to consider the printmaking process not merely as reproduction but as a labor-intensive act itself. Look closely at the hatching and cross-hatching – these aren’t just lines describing form, but physical marks made by an artisan. The value wasn't on some artistic, innate skill, but rather about the skill to use a material to circulate knowledge at that time. Think of how that intersects with Aventinus himself, a historian. What do you suppose this accessibility meant to the rising merchant classes? Editor: I hadn't really considered it in that light! It democratizes knowledge, doesn’t it? Moving away from unique, commissioned artworks to something reproducible, putting information directly in the hands of, say, traders, and challenging the existing aristocratic monopoly. Curator: Exactly! And even the presence of the book he's holding is not merely symbolic but an index of a growing book trade, and the rising importance of access and literacy amongst social classes. Consider also, the type of ink available at the time, the kind of paper…the very materiality of this print speaks volumes about the culture that created it and was in turn shaped by it. Editor: So, it’s about looking at these materials and techniques as not just *how* it was made, but *why*, and what that means about 16th century society. That makes you see the image very differently. Curator: Precisely!