The Marriage of St. Catherine 

This is The Marriage of St. Catherine by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, made using etching, a printmaking technique, and a handmade paper support. Look closely, and you'll see the image is made up of thousands of tiny lines, all carefully incised into a metal plate. This was done by Piranesi with a tool called a burin, pushing through a waxy ground to expose the metal beneath. The plate was then submerged in acid, which bit into the exposed lines, creating grooves. Ink was applied, and the plate pressed onto paper, transferring the image. The final print has a richness of tone and detail. However, the most compelling aspect is the labor intensity of the process. Each line represents a deliberate decision. We can see the commitment required, and we must consider it a skilled artisan's work, not just a reproduction of an existing image. Considering the history of printmaking, we can appreciate its role in disseminating ideas and images in an increasingly industrialized world, where value was, and still is, often placed on the efficiency of production.