Gebod der liefde veroorzaakt de dood van de zonde 1550

Editor: This engraving, "Gebod der liefde veroorzaakt de dood van de zonde" from 1550 by Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, is striking. The figure dominating the scene holds a skull and stone tablets, seemingly conveying a stern message. What significance do you see in this work, particularly in relation to its time? Curator: As a print, this work embodies the material culture of the Renaissance. The lines etched into the copperplate, the paper it's printed on, all point to a burgeoning print market and a democratization of ideas. How does the act of reproducing this image, this allegorical representation of the law and love, speak to a shifting social landscape? Editor: I suppose that distributing images would democratize philosophical and religious concepts, beyond just those in religious institutions. I am thinking, then, what does the figure’s specific iconography suggest about the relationship between religious doctrine and people's daily lives? Curator: Notice how the tools of printmaking – the burin, the press – are absent. Yet, their presence is implicit. This image becomes a commodity. Love is now rendered and brought down through these very processes. And look, a skull sits opposite tablets of law. Does the law conquer death or vice versa? Consider, the skull becomes another object made reproducible with Coornhert’s technique. It takes us into death, materializing death’s dominion through the print, doesn't it? Editor: That's fascinating. Thinking about the labor involved in creating and distributing this image… the materials, and the social context, makes me appreciate how much prints could actually shape understanding of doctrine and death during the Renaissance. Curator: Exactly! The medium itself becomes a message, inseparable from the content. The rise of print culture irrevocably changed the way knowledge and morality were disseminated and consumed. Editor: I will look differently at prints from now on! Thank you!