Plutarch 

This engraving of Plutarch was made in France by Léonard Gaultier, sometime in the late 16th or early 17th century. It reflects the period's humanist revival of interest in classical antiquity. Plutarch, the ancient Greek biographer and essayist, is shown here as an emblem of wisdom. The image creates meaning through visual codes, associating Plutarch with scholarly pursuits. The books, the act of reading, and his melancholic pose all mark him as an intellectual. France at this time was experiencing religious and political conflict, as well as the centralizing influence of the royal court and the Catholic church. Engravings like this one, widely disseminated, participated in a broader cultural project that was forming a sense of national identity. To understand this image better, one might research the printmaking industry in France at this time, as well as the classical revival in French intellectual life. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.