Macht van wijn 1595 - 1643

This print, ‘The Power of Wine,’ was made by Zacharias Dolendo around 1600 using engraving. As you can see, it’s a very linear medium; the image is built up from many discrete marks, each bitten into the metal plate with acid, then filled with ink. Consider how that technique affects the final result. Dolendo must have been exceptionally skilled to conjure such varied textures. Notice, for example, how he evokes a sense of three-dimensionality by densely packing lines together. It is also interesting to compare the medium with its subject. In this chaotic scene, drunkenness has led to the abandonment of all reason and order. By contrast, engraving is a highly rational, controlled process. In the early modern period, prints such as this were widely disseminated, creating a shared visual culture. Here, the artist draws on classical imagery to comment on contemporary appetites, vividly capturing the intoxicating pleasures and perilous pitfalls of alcohol.