Portret van Guillermo Huges de Avignon, 64ste Minister Generaal van de franciscaner orde 1710 - 1738

Antonio Luciani made this print of Guillermo Huges de Avignon, the 64th Minister General of the Franciscan Order, around the early 18th century. The process of creating an engraving like this involved a painstaking, highly skilled labor, using tools to cut lines into a metal plate. Ink would then be applied to the plate, and then wiped off the surface, remaining only in the incised lines. Finally, the plate would be pressed onto paper, transferring the image. You can see the crisp precision of the lines, especially in the ornate frame and the lettering, achieved through precise actions. It’s easy to think of printmaking as a purely reproductive medium, one of mechanical iteration. But consider the slow work that went into the making of the original matrix. Luciani’s skills as a draughtsman are evident; but so is his deep understanding of the printing process itself. Once the plate was made, of course, it could be used to make many impressions, thus democratizing the image. This is a fascinating tension: a handmade object, created to enter the cycle of mass production and consumption.