Charles V, King of Spain 1516 - 1519

Curator: Looking at this print, "Charles V, King of Spain," by Daniel Hopfer, I’m struck by its intimate scale. Editor: It’s so intricate! It feels like a meticulously crafted object, dense with its own symbolic language and made for close inspection. Curator: Hopfer was quite the innovator, etching armor before turning to printmaking. He invented etching as we know it using iron plates. Editor: The materiality speaks volumes. Iron plates meant wider circulation, a king made accessible. But the labor! Imagine the physical effort to impress these images. Curator: And yet, there’s a delicacy here. It feels as if the artist is saying, "Yes, he’s a king, but also, he's just…a man." The very human face surrounded by power. Editor: Absolutely, a man of his time, defined by material constraints, technical innovations, and the ambitions of a vast empire. Curator: It's interesting to ponder who might've owned such a portrait back then, how they might have perceived Charles V through Hopfer’s skilled hand. Editor: Indeed, a small image with such a huge context.