Maria met kind zittend op een troon tussen Petrus en Johannes de Doper met musicerende engelen en drie vrouwelijke heiligen op de achtergrond 1480 - 1531

Editor: Here we have Girolamo Mocetto’s engraving, “Maria met kind zittend op een troon tussen Petrus en Johannes de Doper met musicerende engelen en drie vrouwelijke heiligen op de achtergrond,” created sometime between 1480 and 1531. It’s amazing how much detail he packed into a print. What stands out to you the most when you look at this artwork? Curator: The very process of its creation speaks volumes. Think of the labor involved in engraving that level of detail onto a plate, the physicality of the artistic act. What does it mean to take a traditionally painted subject and reproduce it via printmaking during the Renaissance? Editor: I suppose it allowed for wider distribution, making it more accessible to a larger audience, perhaps those who couldn't afford original paintings? Curator: Exactly! It disrupts the idea of the unique, precious artwork. Printmaking enabled mass production, making religious imagery—and the ideology it carries—a commodity. Consider the materials: the paper, the ink, the metal plate. Where did they come from? Who processed them? The answers reveal complex trade routes and social structures. And note that within the composition, you see several other technologies deployed to support religion and the state. Editor: I never really thought about prints in that light, focusing on the production itself instead of just the image. I guess I was only really considering the artistry. Curator: The artistry is inseparable from the means of its production. This piece prompts us to consider the Renaissance not just as a flowering of individual genius, but also as a complex network of labor, materials, and consumption. What kind of statements can be inferred by Mocetto displaying the materials he deployed so overtly in the end-result? Editor: That’s a totally different perspective. I am always so used to consider the composition but I will definitely think about that more from now on! Thanks!