Balthasar Bathory de Somlyo 1583

Editor: This is Hendrick Goltzius's "Balthasar Bathory de Somlyo," created in 1583 using engraving. The subject's outfit really grabs you, especially the material, how each section is so clearly defined, as well as that elaborate collar! What do you make of it? Curator: Well, immediately, I'm drawn to the process of engraving itself. Think about the labour involved, the precise hand movements to create those lines, the time spent to produce the plate. It transforms image-making, enabling dissemination to a wider audience. The texture isn't simply visual, it represents physical labor. Editor: That makes a lot of sense. I was so focused on the finished look. But what about its function, with prints serving different segments of society? Curator: Exactly! The affordability of prints allowed these images to circulate widely. A print like this promotes power through dissemination; images are consumed, bartered, used. The material’s significance goes beyond the individual portrait and embodies early-modern social transformation. Consider the role this object would have played within political and commercial structures of the time. What are the social forces driving demand for portrait prints of the elite? Editor: It really places the object and the individual portrayed in a completely different social landscape than, say, a unique painting made only for the patron's eyes. Curator: Precisely. It transforms a personal likeness into something else, a consumable and reproducible tool in this changing world. These prints become goods, traded and influencing social capital. What are the power dynamics being performed with it? Editor: Seeing the print as a means of exchange makes this much clearer! It highlights this shift towards the print being less about a single subject and more about the role and social conditions surrounding such an image at the time of its creation. Curator: I completely agree!