Maria met Kind en Catharina van Alexandrië c. 1592 - 1613

Vespasiano Strada made this print, Maria met Kind en Catharina van Alexandrië, using etching. This intaglio process involves coating a metal plate with wax, drawing through the wax to expose the metal, and then submerging the plate in acid, which bites away at the exposed lines. The resulting grooves hold ink, which is transferred to paper under high pressure. Look closely, and you can almost feel the pressure exerted by the printing press, pressing the paper into the lines, giving them a slightly raised quality. The medium here is significant. Printmaking allowed for the relatively inexpensive reproduction of images, in contrast to painting. This meant that Strada's image, devotional as it is, could circulate widely, influencing popular belief and piety. We can see the artist's hand in the web of lines, built up through labor, that give shape to the scene. Thinking about the material and the making allows us to appreciate the wider world of work and faith to which this print belonged.