Boetvaardige Maria Magdalena in een grot 1619 - 1675

This print, Repentant Mary Magdalene in a Cave, was made by Lucas Vorsterman I in the 17th century. He used the technique of engraving, meticulously incising lines into a copper plate, which would then be inked and printed. The stark contrast of light and shadow, achieved through dense cross-hatching, gives the image a dramatic quality. Vorsterman was trained in the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, and his skill in printmaking was essential to disseminating Rubens’s compositions to a wider audience. It was an expensive process. Copper had to be mined, smelted, and worked by specialist tradesmen. Likewise, engraving was a highly skilled craft, requiring years of training. The prints themselves were luxury goods, affordable only to the wealthy. The commercial nature of printmaking meant that artists were both creative practitioners and entrepreneurs. They were also participants in a wider system of labor and consumption. Considering the materials and skills involved reminds us that even seemingly simple images have a complex social and economic life.