Interieur met twee elegante dames die nieuwe mutsen bekijken 1718 - 1756

Dominique Sornique made this print of two elegant ladies inspecting new bonnets sometime in the first half of the 18th century. The medium here is engraving, a printmaking process in which a design is incised into a metal plate, which is then inked and pressed onto paper. Note the incredible amount of work involved. Each line of shading, each contour of the figures' dresses, had to be patiently cut into the metal by hand. The final product looks effortless, but is the result of great labor. And this, of course, is the real subject here. We are seeing the culture of aristocratic consumption, but from the far side of production – the skilled artisan required to make luxury goods like these bonnets available for purchase. The image invites us to consider the relationship between the ladies' refined elegance and the work required to produce it. By focusing on the making of the engraving itself, we can appreciate the wider social context in which art and fashion were created and consumed, prompting us to question traditional distinctions between art and craft.