Procession of Monstrous Figures 1615

This print, "Procession of Monstrous Figures" was made by Wendel Dietterlin the Younger in the 17th century, using the intaglio technique. This is a family of printmaking processes in which the image is incised into a plate, usually made of copper or zinc. Here, the artist would have used a sharp tool to create those fine lines. The plate is then inked, and the surface wiped clean, leaving ink only in the incised lines. Then, under great pressure, the image is transferred to a sheet of paper. What is so remarkable about this particular example is the obsessive density of the lines. Look closely, and you can see that Dietterlin used hatching and cross-hatching to create a strong sense of three-dimensionality and grotesque detail. This involved a tremendous amount of labor. The figures themselves, bizarre and unsettling, seem to emerge from the very process by which the print was made. This speaks to the period’s fascination with the grotesque, and the monstrous, reflecting a society undergoing profound change and upheaval, mirroring a world turned upside down, captured in ink on paper.