Pyramid of six Men 1540 - 1550

This is a print called "Pyramid of six Men," made by Juste de Juste in the 16th century. It's an etching, which means the artist coated a metal plate with wax, scratched a design into the wax, and then dipped the plate in acid. The acid ate away at the exposed metal, leaving an impression that could then be inked and printed. The image shows six male figures arranged in a precarious acrobatic tower. Look closely, and you can see the fine lines created by the etching process. The sharpness and precision of the lines give the figures a sculptural quality, almost as if they were carved from stone. But here’s where it gets interesting: printmaking in this era was often collaborative. While Juste de Juste likely designed the image, skilled artisans would have been involved in the physical labor of preparing the plate and pulling the prints. The final product therefore blurs the lines between artistic vision, craft production, and the division of labor. The print is not only an aesthetic object, but the trace of a very specific kind of workshop environment.