Mercury, Argus and Io 1650 - 1674

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout made this drawing, Mercury, Argus and Io, in the 17th century using pen and brown ink, on paper. The nature of this artwork as a drawing means that the materiality is direct. The artist's hand is ever present. Eeckhout has approached the blank paper with the immediate intention to make his mark, and has chosen humble materials – pen and ink – to realize his vision. The thinness of the ink is conducive to transparency, and the artist exploits this to convey the overlapping forms of the characters of the scene. The ink is economical, and is used to express tone and volume. The choice of common materials like ink and paper speaks to the democratization of image-making during the 17th century. The relative affordability of printmaking meant that it became a more widely available medium, and the role of the artist was changing as a result. This speaks to a society with an increasingly wealthy merchant class.