Madonna met Kind 1618 - 1655

Cornelis Schut made this small etching of the Madonna and Child sometime in the first half of the 17th century. The image presents a conventional vision of maternal tenderness set against the vaguely luminous background. But let's look at the social and institutional history of printmaking in Antwerp at this time. As an etcher, Schut was entering a competitive market dominated by the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, where reproductive prints after the master's paintings played a key role in disseminating his fame across Europe. This print, like many others, bears the inscription "cum privilegio," a mark that signaled the artist's attempt to secure copyright protection from the guild, a privilege which was necessary to compete in the commercial market. The appeal of this image, therefore, lies not only in its religious subject matter, but in its status as a commodity produced within a complex network of artistic production, legal regulation, and market exchange. These are some of the aspects of art history that we can explore through archival documents and other historical sources.