H. Franciscus van Assisi spreekt tot de vogels 1809

Reinier Vinkeles made this print of Saint Francis addressing the birds, and this was done with considerable craft. Look closely, and you'll see that the image is made up of thousands of tiny dots and lines, all carefully engraved into a metal plate. Ink was then applied to the plate, and the image transferred to paper through a printing press. This was a labor-intensive process, demanding a high degree of skill and precision. Vinkeles was a master of this technique, and he used it to create a range of effects, from the delicate rendering of the birds' feathers to the more dramatic shading of the trees. The resulting image has a crispness and clarity that is quite remarkable. In its own way, printmaking was as impressive as any painterly technique; like other forms of multiples, it brought imagery to a wider audience, spreading the ideas that it illustrated. Ultimately, this artwork shows us that the means of production can be just as important as the subject matter itself.