Portret van Maria I van Engeland 1834

Editor: So this is Émilien Desmaisons' "Portret van Maria I van Engeland", created as an engraving in 1834. It's a strikingly detailed portrait. I'm curious, what catches your eye when you look at it? Curator: Well, given that it is a print after a drawing or painting, I find the labor of its production really fascinating. Consider the skilled artisan meticulously rendering the image through engraving techniques. What kind of social class do you think that artisan came from? How was he trained, and how does that training come through? Editor: That’s an interesting perspective. I hadn't really thought about the artisan's role. I suppose they were highly skilled. Do you think Desmaisons aimed to emulate painting with this engraving? Curator: Possibly. But the act of reproduction here shifts the value. It moves the image away from the unique "aura" of a painting and toward wider circulation and accessibility. Think of it as one stage removed; the labour, the material realities... What kind of access to prints of royals would people have at the time and who might produce such material? Editor: So, the value isn't just in the image itself, but in the process of how it was made and disseminated? That makes you wonder who it reached back then. Curator: Precisely. And in examining these prints, can we unearth any challenges to traditional boundaries between 'high art' portraiture, which could involve paintings made to promote the sovereign figure and, let’s say, forms of labour considered ‘craft’? Editor: I guess it’s easy to overlook that these images have a whole other story in their production. I'll certainly be thinking about the hands that made this as well as who consumed it. Curator: Indeed. Material analysis lets us see beyond just the "what" of the art, to the "how" and the "for whom."