Genezing van de vrouw die aan bloedvloeiingen leed 1598 - 1618

Jacques de Bie made this print of the ‘Healing of the woman with the issue of blood’ sometime between the late 16th and mid-17th century. It's rendered in the medium of engraving, meaning that the image was incised into a metal plate, probably copper, with a tool called a burin. Look closely, and you can see how the composition is built up from a network of fine lines, cross-hatching to create deeper shadows. These marks are not spontaneous or gestural, but precisely placed to create a reproducible image. Printmaking like this was a key technology in the early modern period. The resulting images circulated widely, allowing artists like de Bie to disseminate their work to a broad audience. The image and process have a relationship to labor and class, because prints like this offered opportunities to many skilled artisans. They were produced in multiples, yet each one bears the mark of the engraver's hand, a collaboration between creative vision and craft. Appreciating this reminds us to consider the wider context of production, and how it informs the cultural significance of what we see.