Man with Beard and Mustache c. 17th century

This etching, Man with Beard and Mustache, was made by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione in the 17th century. It's a print, meaning that it was produced in multiple. Castiglione would have used a sharp needle to draw an image into a coated metal plate, which was then submerged in acid. The acid bit into the metal where the lines had been drawn, and then that plate could be inked and printed. Think about how radically this process of etching changed the social status of images. Where previously they had to be painted slowly, individually, now they could be multiplied rapidly and disseminated widely. The image itself is a study of a man in elaborate costume, perhaps for the stage. But in a way, the print itself is a kind of costume, dressing up the techniques of labor and mass production in the fine art of drawing. It puts the production process front and center, challenging our assumptions about the handmade versus the mechanically reproduced.