Meat Market, from the pair Meat Market and Vegetable Market 1570 - 1613

Peeter van der Borcht created this engraving, *Meat Market*, sometime in the late 16th century. An engraving is essentially a drawing incised into a metal plate, which is then inked and printed. The technique requires great skill; the artist would have used a tool called a burin to cut crisp lines into the metal. Here, the depicted market is full of this kind of sharp detail, brought out by the contrast between the black lines and the white paper. This allows van der Borcht to delineate the various cuts of meat hanging on display, the folds of the shoppers’ clothing, and the cobblestones underfoot. But it also encourages us to think about the broader social context of the image. Meat markets like this one were central to the economy of early modern Europe. They depended on the labor of farmers, butchers, and traders. The print, therefore, isn't just a pretty picture. It's a record of a complex system of production and consumption. It collapses the distinction between fine art and the everyday world.