Orpheus speelt voor de dieren 1581 - 1656

Nicolaes de Bruyn created this print, Orpheus speelt voor de dieren, using engraving, a painstaking intaglio process. A design is incised into a metal plate, and then ink is carefully applied, wiped, and pressed onto paper. De Bruyn would have needed great skill to create this image; the effect depends entirely on the burin's touch and the manipulation of line. Look closely, and you can see that he has varied the marks to capture the diverse textures of fur, feather and skin. The result is an image that seems highly naturalistic. Yet the scene itself is of course a fantasy. De Bruyn gives us an image of perfect harmony, with Orpheus's music placating nature itself. In doing so, he implicitly calls attention to the social disharmony of his day. The very labor involved in the engraving process becomes a metaphor for the work needed to achieve a properly ordered world. What could be more valuable than that?