Peter Paul Rubens met zijn eerste echtgenote Isabella Brant 1765 - 1813

Curator: This engraving, "Peter Paul Rubens met zijn eerste echtgenote Isabella Brant" after Carl Ernst Christoph Hess, depicts Rubens and his wife. It’s…interesting. What strikes you about it? Editor: I find the detail amazing. It must have taken Hess forever to capture the texture of their clothes in the engraving! What's particularly impressive, to me, is the lace on Isabella's ruff; the technique and labor behind this feels so...intense! Curator: Exactly! Focus on that production process, right? Consider the labor involved, not just for Hess in creating the engraving, but also in the making of those clothes themselves. The lace, the velvet, all these materials represent significant economic and social structures. Editor: So you're saying the materials reflect status and wealth? It's more than just aesthetics, right? It's about how society values craftsmanship and luxury. Curator: Precisely. It’s about understanding how materials circulate within a system of value. These items are a form of cultural capital as much as a symbol of class. Who benefits from the creation and trade of these objects, and what impact does this consumption have on society? Editor: So, it's a story of commerce and privilege hidden in plain sight? This artwork becomes an artifact of economic exchange, not just of artistic expression! It shifts my perspective about portraits like this. Thank you! Curator: Indeed. Thinking about the materiality allows us to dissect those social systems behind even the most seemingly straightforward image.