Claude Regnauldin 1658

Editor: This is Robert Nanteuil's portrait of Claude Regnauldin. The medium looks like engraving, with incredibly fine lines. What stands out is the level of detail achieved; it must have taken such skill and labor to produce. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see an exquisite example of how printmaking elevated social standing in the 17th century. Consider the paper itself, a commodity. Then, examine the labor involved in the precise engraving, a skilled craft. Finally, reflect on how this proliferation of imagery shaped public perception and even reinforced class structures through its consumption. Editor: That's a very different way of looking at portraiture! I hadn't considered how the *making* of the art itself could speak to social structures. Curator: Indeed. Thinking about the material conditions reveals much about the context in which art is produced and consumed. Editor: Thanks! I'll definitely look at art with new eyes.