Two Cubic Figures with Their Hands on the Ground 1624

Curator: Giovanni Battista Bracelli's print, "Two Cubic Figures with Their Hands on the Ground," created around 1624, presents us with quite a curious image. What do you make of it? Editor: They're so bizarre! They remind me of some strange kind of industrial machinery, but… cute? Like giant, ungainly robot puppies. The materiality, the starkness of the engraving, it really highlights the artificiality of the forms. Curator: Indeed. Bracelli was working in a period when the patronage system strongly influenced artistic creation. It makes you wonder who these strange contraptions were for? What purpose could they serve within the societal structures of the time? They feel satirical, or even revolutionary for their time. Editor: I’m curious about the etching process itself here, what that means for how this work would be reproduced and distributed, even. How labor-intensive was it, and how does the medium affect our interpretation of the geometric forms themselves? Curator: Those are key questions! This was created amidst the burgeoning printmaking industry. The relative ease of distribution facilitated a broader dissemination of ideas, regardless of the figures themselves or any symbolic interpretation, this piece shows off technological and societal advances. Editor: And, on the topic of technique, the fine lines emphasize the weight and sturdiness, almost contradicting their fantastical design. I’d like to know more about the labour and workshops involved in Bracelli’s printing and engraving processes and their place in the era’s material culture. Curator: It’s intriguing to consider. Bracelli might be critiquing the period’s mechanization or celebrating the intellectual ability of humans, we're left to contemplate the true intent and role of the work during the shift from the Renaissance to Baroque periods. Editor: I leave feeling that Bracelli has used humble material—the print itself—to show technological imagination taking shape during a period when material progress was changing every aspect of society.