The Pleasant Game of the Goose (Il Dilettevole Gioco di Loca) 1640

This game board, "The Pleasant Game of the Goose," was printed in Venice, though the maker remains anonymous. It’s an early example of mass-produced entertainment, made with the relatively new technology of printmaking. The design is a spiral track, numbered and punctuated with little scenes. This wasn’t freehand drawing, but instead etched into a metal plate, probably copper. The plate was then inked, and pressed onto paper, transferring the image. The colored portions would have been carefully applied by hand. Each stage of this process involved different types of labor. It is likely that the original design was produced by a skilled artist, whose work was then reproduced and disseminated widely, a model of production enabled by the advent of printmaking. We can still sense the hand of the artist, though, in the vivacity of the scenes and the careful application of color. It's a reminder that even in mass production, the human touch remains.