François Tortebat 1655 - 1707

Editor: This engraving from somewhere between 1655 and 1707 is by Gérard Edelinck, portraying François Tortebat. The detail achieved through the engraving process is incredible! It makes me wonder how exactly the process would have looked back then. What strikes you about this work? Curator: What immediately grabs my attention is the means of production, precisely as you pointed out. Engraving at this scale required immense skill and time. Think of the labor invested—the hours spent meticulously carving lines into a copper plate. It’s not just about representing Tortebat; it's about the entire socio-economic structure supporting printmaking. Who commissioned this? Who distributed it? The materiality of the print – the paper, the ink – connects to broader networks of trade and consumption. Editor: That's fascinating. I was mostly just admiring the image, but now I'm thinking about all the craft involved in the process. Was printmaking considered art, craft, or both at the time? Curator: The lines were intentionally blurred. Guild systems regulated production, dictating who could practice engraving. And Academies sought to elevate the status of artists, sometimes at the expense of artisanal trades. The engraver's role was to reproduce images and also to disseminate knowledge and taste among the elite. How might the cost of producing an engraving like this one influence our perception of Tortebat's status? Editor: So, this image, beyond being a portrait, tells a story of artistic labor and economic exchange. It really changes how I see the work, not just as an image but as an object embedded in its own historical process of production. Curator: Precisely! It's about appreciating the layers of material and social history encoded in what we often simply call ‘art.’