Gezicht op de binnenplaats van het grote klooster in het Escorial 1694 - 1737

Pieter van den Berge created this print of the courtyard of El Escorial. It’s a detailed engraving, brought to life with delicate washes of color. Engraving, a printmaking technique, requires a skilled artisan to carve an image into a metal plate, typically copper. The incised lines hold ink, which is then transferred to paper under high pressure. This process allows for fine detail and precise lines, evident in the architectural rendering and the figures populating the courtyard. Berge likely used specialized tools called burins to achieve this level of accuracy. The coloring would have been applied by hand, with different people in the workshop specializing in this part of the process. This division of labor reflects the printmaking industry of the time, where efficiency and specialized skills were valued. Considering the labor involved in both the engraving and coloring, this print would have been a relatively precious object. Understanding these processes helps us appreciate not just the image, but also the social and economic context in which it was made.