Schip met Asterius en Jupiter c. 1635

Editor: Here we have "Ship with Asterius and Jupiter," a drawing and engraving dating back to around 1635. There's a fantastical quality to it, like a dream. What strikes you about the materiality and process here? Curator: The immediate thing for me is the overt display of production itself. This print meticulously documents a constructed spectacle, practically an inventory of costuming and the artifice of power. Think of the paper it's printed on: what kind of labour went into its making, its circulation? Editor: It’s almost like a parade float design…a prototype. Curator: Precisely. And prototypes aren't just abstract ideas; they involve craftspeople, budgets, materials...everything has to be procured and shaped. Who was the target audience? Someone commissioning a grand entrance? A statement of authority? Editor: The figures are really interesting. It almost feels like it’s documenting the manufacturing of mythology. Curator: Good point. Consider the physical act of engraving. Each line meticulously carved, the repetitive action transforming the metal. The "divine" is manifested through deliberate labor and its reproduction via the printing press—making this more about material culture than about gods and myths. Editor: So it’s less about the subject, more about what its making reveals about society. I’d never considered engravings this way! Curator: It challenges the very definition of "fine art," doesn't it? By foregrounding the tangible effort, we understand how images, even those portraying deities, are commodities born from material conditions.