Christ carried to the tomb after 1645

This print, Christ carried to the tomb, was made by an anonymous artist using etching. The scene depicts Christ's burial, a common subject in art history. It is important to reflect on the cultural status of the image in the period it was made, likely sometime in the early modern period in Europe. Prints such as this played a critical role in how art was disseminated. They democratized imagery and facilitated the spread of religious and political ideas. The work would have circulated in multiple copies and enabled individuals to contemplate the image and its meaning at their own pace. Printmaking was thus at the heart of the rise of a new kind of public sphere. In trying to understand this print, we might research the history of printmaking, and how the technology was used to reproduce and distribute images and ideas. This can help us understand the role of this artwork in its own time and its relationship to social and institutional contexts.