Fotoreproductie van een prent naar de Onbevlekte Ontvangenis van Maria door Bartolomé Esteban Murillo before 1860

Curator: Ah, a celestial vision! This photogravure reproduces a print after Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s "Immaculate Conception of Mary," dating to before 1860. What springs to mind for you? Editor: Serenity. The dove greys and pearly whites lend a dreamlike quality. There's a sort of soft, unfocused gaze, and her gesture with her hands evokes piety but also perhaps a tiny bit of sorrow? Curator: Indeed. Murillo's original captured the Counter-Reformation's ideal of female purity, placing the Virgin Mary amidst clouds and cherubs. Note the soft focus, the carefully arranged billowing drapery, it suggests divine revelation. Photogravure as a medium was often used to spread images like these in printed books or periodicals and reinforced social norms. Editor: Yes, but here, distanced through reproductive technology, the power dynamics feels…muted? Perhaps less forceful, the iconography translated into the visual language of domestic devotion, for printed devotional keepsakes to spread among the bourgeoisie, eh? It's all very composed. Curator: You’ve touched on an interesting aspect. Reproductions often democratized access to masterpieces. However, the printing industry also reshaped their original intent to some extent, often solidifying established viewpoints by offering consumers multiple access to religious artwork through various reproduced objects. It is worth considering whose viewpoint got re-affirmed through photogravure in this case, for the consumers who could afford printed matter. Editor: That’s a complex conversation that takes me into interesting byways! But, this is not a great artwork for my personal artistic tastes—although I find its place in time significant! Curator: Quite. An image reflecting its period as much as it perpetuated certain social expectations. An echo chamber of art, social expectation, and commercial production.