Virgin and Angels Watching Over the Sleeping Infant Jesus 

Editor: Here we have Francesco Cozza’s engraving, “Virgin and Angels Watching Over the Sleeping Infant Jesus." I'm immediately struck by the density of the lines, the way they build up texture. It feels almost sculptural despite being a print. How would you interpret the choices Cozza made in producing this image as an engraving? Curator: Well, let's consider the material constraints. Engraving, especially at this level of detail, is laborious. Each line is etched, a deliberate act of production. The *reproduction* of religious imagery through prints speaks volumes. Think of the social context: prints made art more accessible, but also dictated the means of its dissemination and control. The choice to depict this scene in an engraving rather than a painting has implications for both the artist's labor and the artwork's accessibility. Editor: So you're saying the choice of engraving itself is a statement, relating to both the physical labor and the print's potential to spread ideas? Curator: Precisely. And it forces us to consider who controlled the reproduction, and the possible audiences this work served. Did Cozza produce it himself, and distribute, or were other workshops or institutions involved in creating these prints? How did *that* process impact or recontextualize the initial artistic labor of the engraving? What do the qualities of the print’s texture, that density of line that you noticed, tell us about workshop practices at this moment in time? Editor: That makes me think differently about what might be seen as simple devotion, seeing as this image may have circulated in multiple places beyond a church setting, making accessible a representation previously afforded through different channels of viewership. Curator: Exactly. It becomes an artifact of its own production. Editor: Thank you; I'll definitely remember to think about the social implications of the process in future engravings. Curator: Remember: art is always an object embedded within social and material networks.