Enigmes Joyeuses pour les Bons Esprits, Plate 6 1610 - 1620

This print, "Enigmes Joyeuses pour les Bons Esprits, Plate 6", was made in the early 17th century by Jan van Haelbeeck using engraving. The image is entirely dependent on the lines incised into the copper plate, which create tone and texture. Consider the sheer labor involved. Each of those lines had to be cut by hand. An engraver like Haelbeeck would have trained for years to develop the necessary skill. It is interesting to consider the purpose of such an image at the time of its making. It was intended for circulation, as part of a series. The print is therefore a kind of proto-mass media. It speaks to a rising merchant class in the Netherlands, keen to see themselves reflected in aspirational images. Look at the clothing on display, and the fashionable interior. Each detail is carefully rendered to appeal to a specific audience. Paying attention to material and making helps us understand the economic and social function of works like this, and their complex relation to the history of art.