Costume Plate: Hispania Rustica mul. (with label on ground) 1552 - 1563

This print of a figure in ‘rustic’ Spanish dress, was made by Enea Vico, who lived in sixteenth century Italy. It was made by incising lines into a copper plate, inking the surface, and then wiping it clean so that the ink remained only in the recesses. The plate was then pressed against a sheet of paper, transferring the image. The fineness of the lines speaks to Vico’s skill, and also gives a clue as to the social function of prints at this time. They were relatively inexpensive and portable, ideal for circulating images and information across Europe. In this case, the print offers a glimpse into the fashions of another place – a kind of ethnographic record. But consider what is absent here: the labor of the woman whose dress is depicted. We see a representation of her clothing, but not the work that went into making it. Textiles, at this time, were intensely handmade. Vico’s print abstracts that labor, making it just another commodity in a marketplace of images.