Boetvaardigheid c. 1585 - 1590

Philips Galle made this engraving, Boetvaardigheid, sometime between 1537 and 1612, using a technique that was already well established in Europe. The image is defined by precise lines incised into a metal plate, which would have been a labor-intensive process. The visual effect depends entirely on the linear marks left by the burin in the metal. Galle would have understood the effects of those marks, the fineness of the lines, the ways they could be made to describe shadow and volume. Engraving was allied to the printing press, and therefore to the rise of a new kind of visual culture, one that was more widely distributed than painting or sculpture. It also required the skills of draftsmanship, and the knowledge of how to translate tone and texture into the graphic language of the print. So when we look at this image, we're not only seeing a representation of penitence, we’re also seeing the evidence of a highly specialized, technically demanding process, tied to the wider social and economic changes of the Renaissance.