Saint Justin c. 17th century

Editor: This is Jacques Callot's "Saint Justin," a very small etching. I'm struck by how Callot depicted so much action in such a tiny space. What do you see in this piece? Curator: For me, it's about the labor involved. The precise etching, the multiple states it likely went through. Note how the materiality of the print, the paper itself, interacts with Callot's incredibly detailed lines to produce the image. The artist had a printing press, so we are talking about mass production of an image for consumption. Editor: That's a really interesting point. I hadn't considered the reproduction aspect and the skill to achieve it. Curator: Thinking about the process reveals much about the cultural context. Editor: That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your insights.