The Happy Patriot after 1695

Curator: This is Cornelis Dusart's "The Happy Patriot," made after 1695. It's an etching, and the figure practically leaps off the paper. The energy is palpable, but the backdrop also gives the scene some additional layers, some social context perhaps? What stands out to you? Editor: The detail in the clothing and the etching style makes me wonder about the process and labor. How would an artist create such a scene back then, what kind of work went into it? What kind of materials did they use? Curator: Precisely! The etching medium is key. Think about the materials: the metal plate, the acid, the paper, and the press. This process wasn't about individual artistic genius in the romantic sense; it was about skilled labor and the economics of printmaking. How many impressions could Dusart produce and sell? Who was his audience? Was this intended as 'high art,' or something more readily accessible for popular consumption? Editor: So, it's less about the artistry and more about mass production for everyday use? I guess in some ways it can be a bit of both, and the print allowed this kind of art to be more democratic for the people, almost anyone could get one. Curator: I’d say the mass production has social consequences, think about that gun dangling from his belt or that almost theatrical setting! The materiality of this work and the cultural context can’t be separated. The etching process becomes a tool to disseminate ideas and narratives—a crucial aspect of materialist analysis. Editor: Interesting! It recontextualizes it into a more comprehensive story than initially met the eye, thinking about the means by which things were available for people in the Baroque era. I’m going to need to think more about that! Curator: And hopefully also how it informs the way that you think about visual art of our own time too.