De apostel Judas Thaddeüs 1508 - 1512

Editor: So, this is "The Apostle Jude Thaddeus" by Lucas van Leyden, made sometime between 1508 and 1512. It’s an engraving, and what really strikes me is the intricate detail achieved just through lines. What are your thoughts when you look at this print? Curator: Well, I’m immediately drawn to the labor involved. Consider the Northern Renaissance context: engraving like this was a crucial, almost industrial process, making art reproducible and therefore more accessible. It moves art from being an exclusive luxury to something that circulates. How do you think this act of replication changes its value, its aura? Editor: I guess it makes it less precious in a way, because more people can own it or see it. Does that diminish its artistic merit? Curator: Not at all! Instead, we must shift our focus from this romantic idea of the solitary genius to the workshops and the skilled artisans who produced these images. This print represents labor, the painstaking work etched onto the metal, which allows it to become accessible and almost challenges high art's preciousness through reproduction. Notice the way he’s rendered the drapery—the textures, the folds? Think about the time that demands. Editor: It's really incredible, how tactile he makes it feel. Seeing it in this context of labor, not just divine inspiration, gives me a totally new appreciation for engravings like this. I never thought about the democratization of art through prints this way. Curator: Exactly! Van Leyden was part of a larger system, and his individual skill served to power a whole new mode of art production and consumption. Editor: I’m definitely going to look at prints differently from now on, seeing the work and its context, and its place within production of art, rather than just its surface.