Jesse Sends David to His Brothers and Saul 1548

This print, Jesse Sends David to His Brothers and Saul, was made by Augustin Hirschvogel in the mid-16th century. It is an etching, meaning that the image was bitten into a metal plate with acid, then printed in ink onto paper. Look closely and you can see how Hirschvogel carefully built up the image through a system of fine lines. The controlled nature of this process allowed the artist to render details with incredible precision. But this was more than just a demonstration of technical skill. Printmaking allowed for a democratization of imagery. For the first time, biblical scenes and other subjects could be widely distributed at relatively low cost. Consider the labor involved here – the careful work of the etcher, the inking of the plate, and the operation of the printing press. All of these efforts contributed to the dissemination of knowledge and culture on a new scale. We shouldn’t overlook this when we consider the image before us; it is as much an artifact of its time as it is a work of art.