Gezicht op slot Stenhammar en slot Tullgarn 1686

Herman Padtbrugge made this print of Stenhammar and Tullgarn Castles in Sweden sometime before his death in 1687, using the technique of engraving. Consider how different this image would be if it were painted with brushstrokes, or captured with the click of a camera. Instead, we have fine lines incised into a metal plate with a tool called a burin, and then printed onto paper. The precision enabled by this process lends a documentary feel to the image, yet it also carries the qualities of Padtbrugge's hand, and the intense labor involved. The effect is enhanced by the social context of the print. In early modern Europe, prints were a key means of circulating information. This one would have been bound with many others in a book of topographical views. Paying attention to the materials and making of this print reveals its wider cultural significance, reminding us that even seemingly straightforward images can tell complex stories about how knowledge was produced and shared.