Emblemata met Amor, kerkgebouw en vallende ster 1697 - 1718

Editor: This print, "Emblemata met Amor, kerkgebouw en vallende ster" by Anthonie de Winter, from between 1697 and 1718, uses ink, engraving, and etching techniques. It seems like a collection of allegorical scenes, each framed in these elaborate baroque designs. What can we make of this assemblage of images? Curator: Well, let's consider the labor involved. These aren't spontaneous sketches but carefully crafted engravings. The printmaking process—the acid-biting, the inking, the pressing—was laborious and designed for reproduction, and consumption on a wider scale. Does the imagery itself hint at this kind of material understanding of labor and value? Editor: I think so, yeah! You see symbols of commerce and architecture beside cherubic figures of love, and celestial events. I guess this isn't just pure whimsy, then. It's speaking to earthly matters. Curator: Precisely. Consider how printmaking allowed ideas, and, of course, visual forms, to circulate within 17th-century Dutch society, contributing to new networks of production and knowledge. Can we speculate how the commodification of emblems changed the traditional appreciation of its imagery? How would it compare to hand-painted allegories, for instance? Editor: It’s interesting to think about how making something reproducible, like these prints, changes how people relate to it compared to unique artworks. And the allegories themselves are a kind of labor—making complex ideas accessible and sellable. Curator: The materials—the paper, ink, metal plate—all point to a specific mode of production and consumption, integral to the burgeoning capitalist economy of the Dutch Golden Age. This impacts both artistic and intellectual engagement with imagery, then. Editor: Thinking about it that way reveals new details. The value wasn't just in the images, but also in how the means of production created a system for sharing ideas. Curator: Exactly. And that makes these emblems so much more than simple decorations. It's been great reconsidering its material process through that lens!