David Watching Bathsheba Bathe 1615 - 1900

Curator: Here we have "David Watching Bathsheba Bathe," a piece that hails from somewhere between 1615 and 1900, attributed to de la Court. It resides here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's an intaglio print, specifically an engraving. Editor: The etching’s quite striking – lots of bold lines contrasting with empty space; feels a bit cold or voyeuristic maybe? Definitely playing with the push-and-pull between power, observation, and vulnerability. Curator: Absolutely. The medium itself – the linear precision of engraving – contributes to that detached, observant gaze. Consider how the lines delineate form and shadow, turning flesh into object under David’s, and therefore our, scrutinizing gaze. It is fascinating how class plays into the creation. The laborious carving into the metal plate reflects how artistry, and thus value, were materially inscribed. Editor: So it becomes less about an artist's intention and more about how systems, whether the biblical narrative or artistic conventions, carve those perspectives, like lines, into how we see the subject. What I find striking are the textures – or lack thereof – considering they had to translate flesh through laborious and painstaking craft of metalworking. The human form is so precisely yet cold rendered and juxtaposes an emotional experience by a lack thereof. What do we bring into this exchange as witnesses and why? Curator: I'd agree that the emphasis of the technique forces an intimacy and distances, like two poles inextricably linked by power. By working laboriously with materials like these they must be felt intensely; maybe what we register as an unemotional distance between viewer and artwork comes through because these images come into form after many painful or laborious tasks such as using acid or sharp chisels to cut the print in itself. What this act invokes from an embodied maker seems intense in both skill and labor required when rendering nudity with these means alone which invokes from maker themselves! Editor: It is compelling to think of the distance and craft translating such a direct experience onto this substrate. Thanks to process and materiality the exchange changes. Curator: The cold remove of tools seems to make all the difference in telling any good love triangle! Editor: Indeed—it pushes us to see and reflect differently!