De slag bij Nieuwpoort gecombineerd met portretten van Albrecht en Isabella met Mendoza en Maurits en Frederik Hendrik te paard voor het slagveld, 1600 1600 - 1601

Lambert Cornelisz made this print of the Battle of Nieuwpoort around 1600, a moment when the technology of reproduction was itself in a pitched battle with older forms of image-making. Engraving, the process used here, is all about line. The artist incises the image into a metal plate, which is then inked and pressed onto paper. Look closely, and you'll see how Cornelisz used hatching and cross-hatching to create tone and texture. Of course, the real subject of the image is not the burin's line, but war itself. The battle is depicted with cartographic precision, and the portraits of the commanders add a further layer of authority. Consider this print as an early form of propaganda, designed to inform and persuade the public, made possible by the relatively inexpensive medium of printmaking. It brings this historical event to life, turning it into something tangible, reproducible, and therefore, memorable.