Horizontal Panel with a Row of Flowers Above a Frieze with a Battle Scene in a Landscape, from "Livre Nouveau de Fleurs Tres-Util" 1645

Nicolas Cochin made this print, "Horizontal Panel with a Row of Flowers Above a Frieze with a Battle Scene in a Landscape," sometime in the 17th century. The medium here is engraving, a printmaking technique that involves incising a design onto a metal plate, then using this as a matrix for producing multiple impressions on paper. Engraving demanded considerable skill. The artist used a tool called a burin to carve lines into the metal, with the depth and spacing of these lines determining the image’s tonal range. Notice the crisp, precise lines that define the flowers and the complex, active scene below, suggesting a mastery of this technique. These prints were luxury goods, made available through a complex economic system – skilled engravers, paper manufacturers, and a network of distributors. This particular example provides a pattern for luxury textiles and wallpapers. It is a reminder that "art" has always been entangled with labor, politics, and consumption.