Allegorische voorstelling ter gelegenheid van het huwelijk van Abraham Barnaart en Engeltje van Hoven 1724

This print, made by Bernard Picart, commemorates a wedding with an elaborate allegorical scene. But what I find especially interesting is the process by which such images were brought into the world. The lines you see are the result of an intaglio process, which means the image was incised into a copper plate, likely with a tool called a burin. The plate would then be inked, and the surface wiped clean, leaving ink only in the carved lines. Finally, it would be pressed onto paper, leaving a precise impression. Prints like this were not “original” artworks in the modern sense, but rather a means of circulating images widely and relatively cheaply. The labor involved was considerable, demanding both artistic skill and technical expertise. In its own way, this print is a reminder that even seemingly rarefied artistic statements are grounded in the material world, the skilled work of human hands, and the wider social context of its creation.