God kijkt vanaf een wolk toe hoe Hendrik IV van Frankrijk als overwinnaar op zijn tegenstanders staat 1781

Editor: This is "God kijkt vanaf een wolk toe hoe Hendrik IV van Frankrijk als overwinnaar op zijn tegenstanders staat," a print from 1781 by Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, here at the Rijksmuseum. The lines are so fine, it almost disappears! What do you see when you look at this? Curator: Well, for me, this print really highlights the industrialization of art. Chodowiecki wasn't creating unique objects. This print would have been reproduced, disseminated widely, consumed as propaganda… it brings up questions of labor, who was making these prints, how many were made, and who was the audience? Editor: Propaganda? So the artistry is secondary to the message being pushed? Curator: Not secondary, intertwined! The print medium *is* the message, you might say. How does mass production change the way we perceive Henry IV's victory? Think about the labor involved - the engraver, the printer, the distributor. They’re all complicit in creating this…image. Consider also the paper itself, the ink: materials with their own history. Editor: So you're less interested in the symbolism, like God in the clouds, and more in how it was actually made and consumed? Curator: Precisely! It’s not just about high art, but the broader socio-economic factors that enable and shape its production and reception. What do you think the effect of reproducibility had on art in the late 18th Century? Editor: It’s interesting to consider this as part of a larger industrial process, and how that process influenced the message. Now I’m curious about where these prints were distributed and what their impact actually was. Curator: Exactly! Considering the conditions of production opens up so many avenues of inquiry.