The White King Learning to Enclose a Camp with Wagons, from Der Weisskunig 1514 - 1516

Editor: This woodcut, created between 1514 and 1516 by Hans Burgkmair, is called "The White King Learning to Enclose a Camp with Wagons, from Der Weisskunig". It's currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'm struck by the detail – it almost feels photographic in its precision despite the medium. What do you make of it? Curator: It’s funny you say "photographic," isn’t it? It's aiming for realism, certainly, but the sheer density of line suggests something else entirely. For me, it evokes a world buzzing with intention. Look at the figures, the careful hatching that defines the textures. What story does the landscape tell, do you think? Editor: The landscape does feel very ordered. Given the title, is this meant to show the king's strategic thinking? The way the wagons are arranged implies that it is a safe area. Curator: Exactly! Burgkmair wants to tell us not only about knowledge, but its material realization. And history. The whole Der Weisskunig project – and the actual emperor, Maximilian – were pretty invested in mythologizing the Hapsburg line. Look at the figures; notice the finery; it is no documentary realism. In a way, though, isn't mythmaking simply an earlier form of world-building, where details of armor and botany shape an ethos? What happens in art as our technologies advance? Editor: I never thought about mythmaking as world-building, that's a brilliant connection. Thanks so much for sharing your insights. Curator: My pleasure! I suppose these lines have to build new myths, every time somebody really sees them, in a gallery or on their phone. And we've had a little part in it today, haven't we?