Embleem met man die zijn vrienden aanraadt te leven in deugd 1620

This engraving, titled "Emblem with a Man Advising his Friends to Live in Virtue" was created by Boëtius Adamsz. Bolswert. Engraving is an intaglio process. The artist uses a tool called a burin to manually carve lines into a metal plate. Ink is then applied to the entire surface, and then carefully wiped away, leaving ink only in the carved lines. Finally, the plate is pressed onto paper, transferring the image. The incised lines of the print are critical to its communicative power. Bolswert painstakingly created this image by hand, line by line, and the very labor of this process signals the moralizing message. The virtue the artist so painstakingly encourages seems only possible through hard work and dedication. This emblem format, popular at the time, blends word and image to communicate moral and spiritual lessons. It is through the labor intensive material process of engraving that Bolswert gives form to the virtue of hard work. The artwork serves as a powerful reminder of how the materials and methods we choose shape meaning.