Februari 1624 - 1645

Curator: This engraving, entitled "Februari", was created sometime between 1624 and 1645 by Jan Gerritsz Swelinck. Look at the incredibly precise and uniform marks made to describe tone, mass, and even texture on what seems to be a commonplace, daily, and workaday scene. Editor: Oh, the stillness of the sea… but a deep quiet, like right before a storm hits. The rendering of that central figure, Christ, as being so removed yet present really captures that moment before transformation, I think. It’s rather ominous. Curator: Indeed, the print exemplifies the high degree of skill that engravers aimed for as the material process for making the work, combined with the social narrative and symbolism in the picture itself are tightly knit together. We’re presented here with an active fishing port or harbor, which gives us clear indications as to 17th century Netherlandish maritime practices. The choice of medium also democratizes it for wider distribution as it moves away from oil on canvas being a costly choice. Editor: You can feel the labor involved here. The pulling of nets, the lifting of what seems to be crates of fishes... And above, almost supernaturally, a pair of fishes swims across the lunar face above. Very, very surreal but in this gritty realness. Curator: Precisely. As a print, the labor shifts to the printing shop as well as how printmaking made distribution an active and democratized system to inform or mobilize different socio-cultural beliefs. History-painting in printed form! Editor: Well, it certainly gets one pondering about work and miracles. Perhaps those two things are linked more often than we think. There is a sort of divine spark in every act of labor. Curator: A perspective that connects directly to a deep understanding of material making in our world, no?