Bacchanten stoet met leeuwen 1652 - 1707

Editor: We are looking at "Bacchanten stoet met leeuwen" by Franz Ertinger, created sometime between 1652 and 1707. It’s an engraving. There’s a real sense of frenzy in this print – all these figures in motion. What’s your read on it? Curator: This work invites us to consider the production of images itself. Think about engraving, a painstaking process of carving lines into a metal plate to create multiple, identical impressions. Here, Ertinger uses that technique to disseminate an image of Bacchic revelry, traditionally associated with liberation and excess. Editor: So, it’s not just the image, but the *making* of it that matters? Curator: Exactly! How does the material—metal, ink, paper—and the labour of the artist inform the content? The printmaking process allowed this scene, initially representing elite entertainment, to become available to a wider public through printed reproductions. We see here, too, lions - signs of power and the exotic now accessible as commodity and as image, raising fascinating questions about access and ownership. Editor: That's an interesting way to view that piece, considering production as part of the meaning and distribution, which raises even more questions around commodification of art. Thank you for clarifying that! Curator: Indeed, by examining the print's materiality and mode of production, we understand that this seemingly classical image of abandon is itself a product of a specific economic and social system.