Wrestlers, from Wrestlers, plate 3 1552

This print of wrestlers was made by Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, sometime in the late 16th century. It's made from an engraving, a printmaking technique that involves incising an image onto a metal plate, which is then inked and pressed onto paper. Look closely, and you can see the delicate lines that define the figures’ muscular forms. The engraver uses line to describe the tautness of skin, the way muscle stretches and bulges. This wasn’t just a feat of artistic skill. It was physical labor, demanding focused precision and control. Consider the social context here. Printmaking allowed for the wide distribution of images. This print comes from a series. It suggests that there was a market for images of wrestlers—perhaps appealing to an audience interested in classical ideals of strength, or simply the spectacle of athletic competition. Ultimately, Wrestlers is not just a picture. It is a testament to the meeting of athletic prowess and skilled handwork, and the emerging system of artistic production.