German Joust of Peace c. 1512 - 1515

This image depicts a German Joust of Peace, and was created by an anonymous artist using ink and watercolor on paper. The choice of materials here is interesting. Paper and watercolor are of course associated with the art of painting, however, the clean outlines of the figures and the linear perspective lines of the "stage" on which the jousters find themselves, give a nod to the world of early printed illustrations. The evenness of the coloring and the almost diagrammatic clarity with which the horses and knights are delineated brings to mind both the precision required by a wood or copper plate engraver, as well as a possible social context of popular printmaking, in which large teams of craftsmen would reproduce similar images on a mass scale. The relative disposability of the medium also makes the image all the more interesting, particularly given the importance of such jousts to notions of aristocratic masculinity and power. The work is a potent reminder of how art can intersect with labor, politics, and social ritual.