Portret van John Law, ca. 1720 1720 - 1721

This print of John Law was made around 1720, using the technique of engraving. This is an intaglio process, meaning that lines are incised into a metal plate, which is then inked and printed. The incredibly fine lines denote not just the sitter's likeness, but also speak to the financial anxieties of the moment. John Law was a Scottish economist who became Controller General of Finances in France. He attempted to modernize the French economy with paper currency, and his association with a Mississippi Company led to a speculative bubble, which then burst. Consider the labor involved in this print. The engraver, whose name is now lost to history, would have spent many hours translating Law’s image into this intricate network of lines. We see here how even a relatively modest work of graphic art can be deeply enmeshed with larger structures of labor, politics, and consumption.