Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Portraicts... page 47 (recto) 1588

Editor: This page from "Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Portraicts...", created by Federico de Vinciolo in 1588, is a fascinating engraving! It features Jupiter riding an eagle. What strikes me is its incredible detail. How does this engraving style connect to the social and economic context of its time? Curator: The most striking thing here is the gridded background. These pattern books were instrumental in the creation of lace. Note how the design is constructed almost like a blueprint for production, focusing on repeatable elements. How does this emphasis on pattern and replication impact our understanding of art and craft? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way! So, rather than focusing on the image itself, you’re drawing attention to how it facilitated the *making* of something else? Curator: Exactly! The image exists as a guide, a tool. Think of the labor involved in creating these intricate lace designs – the hands, the thread, the time. It challenges this hierarchy that often separates "fine art" from practical creation, wouldn’t you agree? What implications would that production of lace have on workshops and family-run business in that era? Editor: I see. It positions the print not as an end product, but as a step in a larger production process tied to labor, utility, and even gender, considering who often did lace making. It flips how I'd normally look at Renaissance art. Curator: Precisely! By examining its material function, we move beyond a purely aesthetic appreciation and understand art as embedded in a network of social relations, material production and value. Editor: Thinking about the process reveals a whole different dimension to the work! Thanks! Curator: It's crucial to look past the image itself. What is art *for*, how is it made, and what does that *making* tell us? That's where real understanding begins.