Gevangenneming van drie raden van de VOC, 1740 1793

Reinier Vinkeles made this print, titled 'Gevangenneming van drie raden van de VOC, 1740' using engraving, a process that involves incising lines into a metal plate, applying ink, and then pressing the plate onto paper. The precision and detail required for engraving speak to the values of accuracy and control in the 18th century, yet the scene depicts anything but. It captures the arrest of three council members of the Dutch East India Company. The VOC, as it was known, was the world’s first multinational corporation, trading in spices, textiles, and other goods, enabled by enslaved labour. Vinkeles’s print, with its meticulous lines and attention to detail, can be seen as an artifact of the very system it depicts. The act of making, with its demand for skilled labor, mirrors the VOC's vast operations and the labor that fueled its wealth. It prompts us to consider the relationship between artistic production, the economy, and social power.