De schepen bij het eiland Santa Clara, 1599 1601 - 1646

This engraving, De schepen bij het eiland Santa Clara, was made in 1599 by an anonymous artist. The image is made entirely with lines, cut into a metal plate – probably copper – and then printed onto paper. Consider the labor involved in the production of this image. First, the engraver had to be skilled in the handling of sharp tools, to create a drawing made of thousands of precise marks. Then, the printmaker would have needed to apply ink evenly to the plate and transfer the image to paper. While this print appears to be a straightforward record of a naval scene, it is also a product of global trade and colonial ambition. The ships themselves were complex machines, requiring the labor of many skilled workers to build and sail. So, this seemingly simple print reveals a complex web of relationships between labor, materials, and the social context of its creation.