Moord op Isaäc Doreslaer, 12 mei 1649 1783 - 1795

Reinier Vinkeles created this print depicting the “Murder of Isaac Doreslaer, 12 May 1649” using etching and engraving techniques. Here we see the result of a skilled artisan carefully cutting lines into a metal plate, inking it, and then transferring that image onto paper. The medium itself – printmaking – is important. It is not unique like a painting, but relatively democratic; it allows for the wide distribution of images and ideas. Consider the social context: Vinkeles made this print more than a century after the depicted event. This wasn’t reportage, but a conscious act of historical interpretation. The print served to keep alive the memory of a politically charged assassination. It wasn’t just an aesthetic object, but a tool for shaping collective memory. In understanding artworks, we should look beyond the image itself, and consider the labor, materials, and social forces that gave rise to it.