Burgemeester Jan van Proeijs, 1449 1842 - 1897

Christiaan Lodewijk van Kesteren made this print of Burgemeester Jan van Proeijs in the 19th century. It’s a modest piece, just a few inches in either dimension, and made with a relatively humble technology: engraving. The fine lines incised into the metal plate – probably copper – create the image. This printmaking technique depends on skillful labor, a painstaking process that in this case gives us a snapshot of 15th-century Dutch life. Look closely, and you can see the sharply defined forms, and the textures of clothing and architectural details. Interestingly, the most prominent craft object in the scene is the spinning wheel. It appears in many Dutch paintings of this era, often as a symbol of domestic virtue. Here, however, it may be more than that: a hint of the burgeoning textile industry that would eventually drive the Industrial Revolution. Van Kesteren asks us to consider the labor of all involved.