Interieur waar aan tafel munten uitbetaald worden 1624

Daniel Sudermann made this print, "Interior where coins are paid out at the table," sometime around the turn of the 17th century. The medium is engraving, which involves using a tool called a burin to carve lines directly into a metal plate, which is then inked and printed. Look closely, and you can see the effect of these etched lines, defining not only the forms but also the tonal range of the image. This highly skilled technique was central to the rapid dissemination of images in early modern Europe. Here, Sudermann shows us a room in which a transaction is taking place; we see a table laden with coins and people receiving payment. But who are these people? And what kind of work have they performed to earn this money? The print raises questions about labor, compensation, and the emerging economic systems of the time. Consider this work as an artifact of early capitalism, where art itself was becoming a commodity, traded and circulated through printmaking.