Mercurius speelt fluit voor Argus 1589 - 1728

This print, "Mercurius speelt fluit voor Argus," was made by Hendrick Goltzius, most likely around the turn of the 17th century. It’s a complex image, built up from many tiny engraved lines. Consider how much labor went into this process. Goltzius would have started with a blank copper plate, and then used a tool called a burin to physically carve away the metal, creating grooves that would hold ink. The density of those lines determines the darkness of the image, and it takes real skill to vary that density and create a sense of three-dimensionality, as you see here in the figures and the trees. Prints like this one existed in a fascinating intersection between art and industry. They could be produced in multiples, sold at a relatively low price, and distributed widely. The democratization of images was well underway. Appreciating the labor and materials involved helps us to understand the value that these objects held in their time, and still hold today.