Standing Horse Facing Right c. 16th century

Curator: This is Antonio Tempesta's "Standing Horse Facing Right," a print residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. The medium is etching. Editor: It's strikingly linear, almost diagrammatic, yet there's a vitality in the horse's posture. You can feel the weight. Curator: Etchings like this were crucial for disseminating imagery. Tempesta, working in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, would have understood the market demand. Think of the workshops churning these out! Editor: Absolutely. And consider the market for equestrian prints—symbols of power and nobility. The cross-hatching, though functional for conveying form, also adds a certain texture. It's not just about representation, it’s about the making, the mark of the artist's hand. Curator: It seems like a study piece, in a way. He’s captured musculature effectively. I wonder how the prints circulated. Were they individually sold? Bound into larger volumes? Editor: I think about the labor involved. The copper plate, the acid bath... it gives the image a completely different weight. Curator: Indeed, the materiality of it. Editor: Examining "Standing Horse" reveals the intersection of art, commerce, and social status. Curator: A fascinating confluence of forces captured in ink.