Jean Loret 1658

Editor: This is Robert Nanteuil's portrait of Jean Loret. I find it so detailed, especially considering it's an engraving. What can you tell me about the process of making something like this? Curator: Engraving, like any production, is labor. Nanteuil’s expertise with the burin allowed him to depict Loret, but the image is also a product of the materials used – the copper plate, the paper, the ink. How do these materials speak to the social context? Editor: Well, the detail suggests high skill and therefore a certain level of patronage or market. The text below... it's almost like advertising? Curator: Precisely. The print serves as both portrait and commodity. Considering the materials and process, we gain insight into how images circulated and artists sustained themselves. Editor: That's a great point. It's easy to forget the labor behind the image. I'll definitely think more about the making of art from now on.