Fabel van Jupiter en de pachter 1758

This is an engraving titled 'Fable of Jupiter and the Farmer', made by Johann Heinrich Meil the Elder in the late 18th century. The printmaking process is crucial here; the artist would have used a sharp tool called a burin to manually incise lines into a copper plate. Ink is then applied to the plate, wiped off the surface, and the remaining ink in the grooves is transferred to paper under high pressure. The stark contrast of the lines in the engraving allows Meil to create a scene with depth and drama, as we see the figure of Jupiter descending from the clouds to confront a terrified farmer. What’s interesting here is the way the mechanical, reproducible nature of printmaking contrasts with the subject matter, the personal encounter between the divine and the everyday world of labor. The very act of reproducing this image democratizes the fable, bringing it to a wider audience beyond elite circles. It invites us to consider the social and economic context in which these images circulated, challenging conventional ideas of art.