College van kardinalen, plaat AA 1530 - 1536

This is ‘College van kardinalen, plaat AA’, made around 1500 by Nicolaas Hogenberg. It's an engraving, meaning that the artist would have used a tool called a burin to cut lines into a metal plate, likely copper. The plate is then inked, and the surface wiped clean, leaving ink only in the incised lines. Finally, damp paper is pressed against the plate, transferring the image. It’s a process capable of producing incredibly fine detail, as you can see in the rendering of the Cardinals’ faces and costumes. Engraving like this was a highly skilled practice, situated between artistry and industrial production. Each print is identical, yet requires the touch of a master craftsman. That puts it in an interesting place between 'high art' and the more workaday world of printing, a tension that makes it well worth our attention today.