Christus voor Kajafas 1597

Hendrick Goltzius made this print, *Christ before Caiaphas*, around 1597. It is an engraving on paper, a medium that gained popularity during the Renaissance era as a means of reproducing and disseminating images. The linear quality of the print stems from the engraver's meticulous work, using a tool called a burin to carve lines into a metal plate. The plate is then inked, and the ink held in these lines transfers to the paper under pressure. Look closely, and you can see how Goltzius varied the pressure and angle of his tool to create nuances of light and shadow. The image would have been produced in multiples, so we can see it as a kind of proto-industrial process. Prints like these democratized art, making it accessible to a broader public. But each one still represents skilled labor; a testament to the engraver's craft, and the economic and social forces that shaped its production. It challenges the traditional hierarchy of art and craft.