Voor- en achterzijde van een penning met portretten van de dauphins Frans en Maria van Schotland en van Karel IX, koning van Frankrijk 1683 - 1733

This is a drawing by Bernard Picart, made using pen in brown ink. What strikes me immediately about this artwork is the painstaking labor involved. Consider the process: Picart would have had to master the techniques of hatching and cross-hatching to create the illusion of depth and shadow. The ink, likely iron gall, would have been mixed according to a specific recipe, and applied with a quill meticulously fashioned from a bird's feather. While the drawing depicts royalty - the dauphins Frans and Maria of Scotland, and Charles IX - the material itself speaks to the broader social context of the time, when printmaking was becoming increasingly important as a means of disseminating images and ideas. While the drawing itself is a unique work, it anticipates its own reproduction, and thus enters the burgeoning world of capitalist exchange. Ultimately, this small drawing is a reminder that even seemingly simple artworks can be rich with meaning, reflecting both the skill of the artist and the social forces that shaped their world.