Boerenpaar 1510 - 1550

Editor: Here we have "Boerenpaar," or "Peasant Couple," an engraving by Sebald Beham, made sometime between 1510 and 1550. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It has an interesting candidness, a really earthy feel. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: Immediately, I think about the production of this engraving, this *print*. This wasn't a unique object, destined for a wealthy patron’s wall. It was made to be reproduced, disseminated, *consumed*. What did it mean to depict the lives of peasants in a medium that facilitated mass distribution? Editor: So, its existence as a multiple challenges assumptions about its value or purpose? Curator: Exactly. Consider the artist’s labor involved. Beham wasn't just expressing a personal vision. He was engaging in a craft, a form of early industrial production. And the lines themselves—were they intended to ennoble or satirize its subjects? Note the way he carefully delineates the rough textures of their clothing. How much does this attention to material contribute to how we read their status, or lack thereof? Editor: It’s interesting you focus on the *making* of the print. It forces you to think about Beham less as an artist expressing inner emotions, and more as a kind of artisan engaging with his world, its labor practices and modes of circulation. Curator: Precisely. These images, though seemingly simple, were part of a complex social and economic fabric. What is being communicated through the *medium* of the engraving itself? What is revealed through its production? Editor: So much more than just two peasants strolling by! It completely reshapes the piece. Thanks so much! Curator: My pleasure! Looking at the means of production, as well as the cultural context surrounding a work of art opens new avenues of insight.