Jeanne d'Arc voor jury van acht mannen before 1845

François Joseph Pfeiffer created this print, "Jeanne d'Arc voor jury van acht mannen" using a painstaking method. Look closely, and you'll see the dense network of lines creating tone, texture, and form. Pfeiffer was using intaglio, a printmaking technique. This meant cutting into a metal plate, inking the whole surface, and then wiping it clean, so the ink remained only in the incised lines. The image was then transferred to paper under high pressure. Think of it as the opposite of a woodcut, where the areas that print are those left in relief. The labor-intensive process of intaglio is well-suited to scenes demanding precision and detail. It allowed Pfeiffer to capture the imposing architecture and the gravity of the courtroom setting. Considering the amount of work that went into this image, it reminds us that every artwork is the result of specific processes, whether we see them at first glance or not.