Two Men in Armour c. 1480 - 1490

Master BM made this engraving, Two Men in Armour, sometime in the late 15th or early 16th century. It's an image conjured with simple tools: a metal plate, a sharp burin to incise the lines, and ink to make the print. Look closely, and you’ll see how the material and process influence the appearance. The crisp, precise lines are a direct result of the burin's action on the metal, giving the figures their defined forms. The texture, or lack thereof, also speaks volumes. The smoothness of the print contrasts sharply with the expected roughness of metal armor, almost fetishizing the surface. This brings us to the social context. Armor production was a high-skilled, labor-intensive craft. By printing an image of armor, Master BM is not only displaying technical virtuosity but also engaging with notions of status and militarism. He is also partaking in the rise of printmaking, a new form of mass production that democratized imagery, but also changed the nature of artistic labor. The work involved in crafting the physical armor is transformed into the labor of engraving, a shift in skill and value. This print invites us to consider the transformation of materials, labor, and value in the early modern world.