Vision of the Immaculate Conception 1732

Editor: Here we have Giuseppe Palmieri's 1732 drawing, "Vision of the Immaculate Conception." It is quite ethereal, this sort of brownish-grey wash. What can we make of this as an object? Curator: Look closely at the materiality. It’s not just the finished drawing, but the physical labor, the production of pigment, the crafting of the paper itself that gives the drawing value. What kind of workshop produced these materials, and what were the working conditions? Editor: So, you're interested less in the religious symbolism and more in how this image came to be? Curator: Exactly! The hand that held the pen, the individuals who ground the pigments, the societal structures that permitted the making of this paper - these elements are inextricably linked to the drawing’s meaning. This was a time when even "art supplies" required intense labor to create, unlike picking up something from an art store. The drawing gives a nod to high art, but we must recognize the material circumstances, where divine depictions often required exploiting earthly means of production. Editor: So the physical creation itself informs our understanding of its spiritual nature, and creates an interesting tension. Are there any clues in the image that speaks to that connection between the material and the immaterial? Curator: Consider the very lines Palmieri chose to include and omit, revealing an unfinished quality. Does it give the sense of labor? Perhaps its function was as preparatory sketch, or perhaps it implies the concept of art production still being very much in progress? What processes are hinted at and how are they different to our time? Editor: That’s a very different perspective than I usually consider, thinking about Baroque art! Now I see that focusing on materiality broadens my interpretation and raises socio-economic questions, not only artistic ones. Curator: Precisely. We have peeled away at an image created to represent higher concepts by actually focusing on lower material conditions to consider its role as object and social signifier.