Plate K: Election and Coronation of Emperor Maximilian II 1612

Editor: This is Plate K: Election and Coronation of Emperor Maximilian II, made in 1612 by an anonymous artist. It looks like a print, maybe an etching or engraving? It's bustling with activity, almost chaotic but celebratory at the same time. What strikes you about it? Curator: Looking at the density of lines, the evident labor invested in producing this image—consider the economic investment in materials: the paper, the ink, the metal plate and the tools to incise it. How would you interpret the scene in the context of early 17th-century printmaking and its accessibility to different social classes? Editor: So, beyond the grand spectacle of a coronation, you’re drawing attention to the material realities of how such images circulated? Curator: Precisely. We see here not just the representation of power, but the tangible means by which this representation was manufactured and disseminated. Notice the landscape backdrop - the natural resources! The smoke almost suggests an early industrial process...what kind of labor went into setting up the coronation, acquiring the materials? What can you deduce from this that might alter your understanding of ‘celebration’? Editor: That makes me think about who could afford prints like these, who controlled the narrative. Not just a celebration, but maybe propaganda being manufactured. Curator: Indeed. Consider how this relates to contemporary debates about digital images and their creation, spread, and impact. Editor: It really is more than just a historical record, it’s about the power structures behind image-making itself. I'll never see prints the same way again. Curator: A good point to remember when critically observing art and the means of its creation.