New Inventions of Modern Times [Nova Reperta], The Invention of Oil Painting, plate 14 1595 - 1605

Curator: What strikes you first about this engraving, "The Invention of Oil Painting," a work on paper from around 1600 by Jan Collaert I, after an original design by Jan van der Straet, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Editor: The feeling is industrious. A flurry of activity contained in this busy studio, yet, strangely calm with all this creativity flowing at once. I imagine the smell of the paint mixing. It seems the image has been split, left dedicated to painting practice and the right for more practical mixing activities. How revolutionary! Curator: Absolutely. As part of Collaert’s “Nova Reperta,” or "New Inventions of Modern Times," this image, with its incredibly detailed rendering, champions the marvel of oil paint and it acknowledges Jan van Eyck as a celebrated pioneer and magician who had an enormous cultural impact and contributed so much in expanding artistic horizons for later generations of artists to express and evolve. Editor: It’s interesting that it shows the studio as this clean space—it lends an air of authority and science to art making, placing painting alongside other forms of scholarly pursuit. Yet also depicts various stages of art instruction, and I wonder who we see posing for portraits or working in groups at collaborative projects, is art here presented as community endeavour? Curator: Good point! Collaert focuses our attention on the intellectual nature of artistic work. The choice to include a coat-of-arms and classical sculptures perhaps reflects a deliberate effort to legitimize artistic practice as a "liberal art", elevating it above a mere craft or trade. This engraving emphasizes the enduring influence of classical ideals on Renaissance artistic thought. Editor: This print gives painting and arts’ production social prominence through visually illustrating artists' spaces in such busy and well-organized studios. But are all art spaces really like this, places of busy production but ultimately dedicated to beauty and harmony. This symbolic scene gives more prominence and importance to artistic endeavor in our collective conscious. Curator: Certainly a romantic depiction. The emphasis on the invention and the almost clinical presentation of the space arguably aims to elevate the status of the artist but how much artistic work happens at the expense of emotional and physical energy we are also becoming so conscious. The print nevertheless grants us access into an interior that many at that time would never see and it makes that process look desirable. Editor: A real peek behind the curtain! Thanks to Collaert and van der Straet’s work we've considered the image of creative labor during the early modern period and the symbolic importance we give arts to today's creative work.