Market Scene, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt in the Background, from Kitchen and Market Scenes with Biblical Scenes in the Background 1603

Editor: This is "Market Scene, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt in the Background" a 1603 etching by Jacob Matham, currently residing at The Met. What immediately grabs me is the density – all these intricately rendered details crammed into a single print! What do you make of such compositional choices? Curator: Note how Matham meticulously organizes the chaos. See the division between the foreground's still life, the middle ground’s bustle and the background, a narrative scene almost dreamlike. The figures are almost overshadowed by the textures and forms, creating a multi-layered spatial experience. This engraving focuses on visual complexities. Editor: That's fascinating, and I also notice that even though it’s black and white, the artist seems to use cross-hatching and line weight to create such varied surface textures. Why focus so heavily on what, I guess, seems like visual realism? Curator: Realism? Or visual information overload? This densely worked surface is a study in contrasting light and shadow, but consider how such treatment invites a specific gaze, a focus not on moral lessons as you would see in paintings, but rather on artistic virtuosity. Matham elevates mere produce into a complex exercise in technique, no? Editor: Yes, absolutely! I hadn’t thought about it that way. It's not just what's depicted, but *how* it's depicted. Curator: Precisely! The "what" is almost secondary to the "how," no? And that interplay, for me, is the source of this print's appeal. Editor: I now understand why some may call his focus as one based on technique. All that cross-hatching has completely redefined my impression of the work.