Maria met Kind en roos 1638

Claude Mellan made this print, Maria met Kind en roos, sometime in the 17th century, using the engraving process. The way this print was made has everything to do with its appearance. Mellan used a burin, a handheld steel tool, to directly incise lines into a copper plate. Look closely, and you'll see that the image is built up entirely from these marks, varying in thickness and density to create areas of light and shadow. Mellan was known for using a single line to describe the entire form, a technique that demanded incredible control and precision, but gave his prints a distinctive clarity. This wasn't just a virtuoso display. Engraving was a reproductive technique, which helped to disseminate images widely in an era before photography. The medium brought its own aesthetic qualities that continue to resonate today, showing the importance of making processes and techniques in art history.