Procession, with a male and female figure seated on a float 16th century

This print shows a parade float with a male and female figure seated on top, made using etching techniques. The etcher would have used a sharp needle to draw into a wax ground laid on a copper plate; acid would then have bitten into the exposed lines. The result is a dense accumulation of fine marks, which describe the figures and complex ornamentation of the float. Look closely, and you can see how the artist has used hatching and cross-hatching to create a sense of volume and depth. This print doesn't just depict a float, it also gives us some sense of the laborious process behind the original object. Think of the many artisans who would have been needed to produce it in reality - carvers, gilders, textile workers. The print is a kind of advertisement for elite status, but it also reveals something of the wider social picture, the many hands that are required to produce just one showy parade. Appreciating this means looking beyond the image itself and considering the world of making that it implies.