Allegorie van drie religies 1788

This etching, "Allegory of Three Religions," was made by Christian Bernhard Rode in the late 18th century. The image is spare, rendered with acid on a copper plate, then printed. It depicts three figures representing different faiths. What's interesting is how Rode used line work to convey texture and tone. See the veiled figure on the left, her drapery built up with tiny hatching marks. This attention to detail gives the print a tactile quality, despite its being a two-dimensional image, made through a mechanical reproduction process. But the real story here is in the social context. Etchings like this were relatively inexpensive to produce, which made them accessible to a wider audience than paintings. They played a crucial role in circulating ideas and images during the Enlightenment, connecting to the labor of the artist, the printer, and the consumer in a network of knowledge and commerce. This challenges the traditional hierarchy between "high" art and more accessible forms of visual communication.