Stoeiende putti 1673 - 1709

Editor: We are looking at "Stoeiende Putti," or "Playful Putti," an engraving print from sometime between 1673 and 1709, by an anonymous artist, located here at the Rijksmuseum. There’s a real sense of movement and energy to this small print. What do you make of it? Curator: What interests me most is the means of production of these playful images and what that says about art's relationship to craft in this period. Engraving was a painstaking and skilled form of labor, requiring precise tools and intense concentration. How might the laborious process contrast with the carefree subject matter? Editor: That's an interesting tension, I hadn't thought about the amount of work versus the whimsical depiction of the cherubs. Curator: Consider the consumption of this type of imagery, too. Prints made art more accessible, less rarefied. Were these mass-produced images designed for a specific market, and if so, what kind of values were they meant to reinforce or sell? Think about the message this conveys within the rise of the merchant classes. Editor: So, is the playfulness a way to sort of normalize the material production of art? A distraction from it perhaps? Curator: Precisely! Furthermore, the choice of materials – paper, ink, metal for the engraving plates – connects this image to broader economic and social systems. The demand for prints fueled industries and shaped trade routes. What's especially telling is the anonymity. Who were the laborers? The artist has seemingly vanished. Editor: I see what you mean. Thinking about this work through the lens of labor and material processes definitely adds layers of meaning to what I initially perceived as just a cute, classical scene. Curator: Indeed! By questioning traditional boundaries and emphasizing the human element and its erasure from the process of production, the artwork reveals how it comes into being.