Volwassen en een jonge stier before 1650

Editor: Here we have "Volwassen en een jonge stier," or "Adult and a Young Bull," by Antonio Tempesta, created before 1650. It's an engraving, and something about the way the lines are etched gives the bulls this very tactile, almost leathery look. What's your take on this print? Curator: I’m immediately drawn to the *process* of engraving itself. Think of the labor involved, the repetitive act of incising those lines onto the metal plate. Each one determined, yet each is part of an industrial, repeatable image making it more about commodity and labor than one may expect. Editor: Commodity, really? I was just thinking about the animal husbandry angle… Curator: Exactly, consider what Tempesta is depicting here; it's livestock, commodities, things being yoked or farmed. Engravings themselves were reproduced en masse. Both things—print, bull—represent capital and exploitation of the natural world. Don't you see that connection between materiality and social context? Editor: That's a sharp insight; the yoking almost disappeared for me. Now the ropes are what stand out: they point to agricultural labor, or maybe even to the role of animals in entertainment, like bullfighting... How would you describe that connection between labor, materiality and the meaning we see today? Curator: How easily images like this were reproduced shows that consumption of animal products was widespread at that point in history. Looking at those tightly-etched lines brings back into view our relationship with these beasts in the creation of this very artwork. Does thinking about materials change what you feel when viewing the work? Editor: Absolutely, I went from thinking this was a pastoral image to noticing this connection between material and concept. Thanks! Curator: Of course. Now it is something else again, to you and I.