Portret van Maria de' Medici, koningin van Frankrijk 1601

This is an engraving of Maria de' Medici, Queen of France, made by Wierix around 1601. The print was made by incising lines into a copper plate, inking it, and then running it through a press. The intense labor required for printmaking, especially to capture all the minute details in the queen's dress and jewelry, speaks volumes about the economics of image production at the time. Consider the sheer amount of work involved in creating this image; the original drawing, the engraving itself, and then the printing process. Each stage would have demanded skilled labor. What is particularly interesting is the level of craft involved, which transcends mere reproduction. The image becomes a valuable object in its own right. It invites us to reconsider the value we assign to objects based on the labor invested in them. The materials and making are just as significant as the regal subject matter.