Tekst bij het portret van Willem V, prins van Oranje-Nassau c. 1787 - 1816

This print, whose maker is unknown, presents text by Jan Scharp dedicated to Willem V, Prince of Orange-Nassau. It was made by incising lines into a copper plate, inking the surface, and then pressing it onto paper. Copper engraving like this was a key technology of the early modern era. Consider it as an early form of mechanical reproduction: each impression taken from the plate is identical. This opened the door for mass communication, the dissemination of knowledge, and even propaganda. The clean, precise lines of the lettering speak to the skill of the engraver, and also to the rise of literacy and the increasingly bureaucratic nature of European society. It also speaks to a cultural context in which the printed word became authoritative – perhaps even more so than the hand-drawn image.