Heilige Hiëronymus 1560 - 1600

Editor: We're looking at "Heilige Hieronymus," or Saint Jerome, an engraving by Johann Sadeler I, dating sometime between 1560 and 1600. It feels very theatrical to me, and it has some macabre undertones. What strikes you about this print? Curator: Let's think about the labor involved. Engraving in this era demanded a high level of skill, transferring Sprangers’ original design. The fine lines and cross-hatching creating light and shadow… It speaks to the artist’s, or artisan’s, mastery over the copper plate. Also, consider the material value. Copper was a valuable resource and was made further expensive by such skill and devotion, especially at this scale. Editor: It’s interesting to think of the engraving as a kind of commodity, a valuable thing to own and display. Curator: Exactly! Prints like these circulated widely. How did it get to the people? And what stories can the paper and ink tell? It goes beyond just devotional imagery. There are complex questions here of production and circulation. Think about where the materials came from to produce that scene! Editor: I hadn't really considered that. It almost seems like a kind of early mass media. Curator: It is. Think about the labor necessary, but also the *capital* necessary for its realization. Consider the social role of printmaking workshops like Sadeler's. How does that shape the image itself and its reception by different audiences? These are devotional images meant for wide distribution – consumption – as affordable objects, luxury commodities, and everything in between. What are you taking away from our analysis, so far? Editor: I’ll definitely be looking at prints differently, seeing them not just as art objects but products of a complex system of materials, labour, and distribution. Curator: Precisely. Next time, perhaps we could consider how printmaking workshops, similar to manufactories and workshops in Italy, further blurred boundaries in art history?