Man die een lam vilt 1660

Curator: I’m drawn to this intriguing print, "Man Skinning a Lamb," created around 1660 by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. Editor: There’s a raw immediacy here. The composition is arresting, the man’s physicality almost sculptural. A simple, harsh image that nonetheless captures your eye. It looks painful to see, though—for all concerned! Curator: Absolutely. What’s fascinating is Mitelli's masterful use of engraving to convey texture, weight, and even movement. The sharp, decisive lines detail the coarse wool of the lamb, the muscular build of the man. Consider the social implications embedded here. The act of preparing an animal for consumption would have been everyday labor. It makes me consider the ethics of commodifying the animal body and where these skins and meats might have eventually landed: in a pauper's stew or perhaps as ornamental frippery for nobles. Editor: It's fascinating you consider the potential future life of these skins, because for me, its focus is deeply visceral: the almost brutal intimacy with the animal, the inherent tension and violence…it reminds me that beauty is often entangled with harsher realities. It gives me chills to see it memorialized this way. Curator: Indeed, it brings us face to face with those realities. Mitelli takes what may seem like a mundane moment, elevates it, and compels us to see its multi-layered dimensions. The Baroque era saw this focus on the human in even these everyday environments—it’s truly marvelous to see here. The medium also is relevant: an engraving like this would likely be replicated and disseminated across great distances—making a single labor that supports life also circulate through a large economy! Editor: I concur. This simple print certainly challenges our perspectives, allowing us to reconsider themes of craft, labor, and the intricate dance between life and material. I see so much happening within those lines. Curator: Absolutely! I leave this encounter seeing not just the act of skinning, but also all its inherent paradoxes—the way death becomes sustenance, that skill becomes art. A provocative image indeed.