Illustratie voor 'Den Arbeid van Mars' van Allain Manesson Mallet 1672

Curator: This intricate print is titled "Illustration for 'The Work of Mars'" by Romeyn de Hooghe, created around 1672. It combines ink and engraving on paper. Editor: It’s curious how the architectural diagram sits right on top of a chaotic battle scene. A stark contrast in mark-making, from controlled lines to swirling smoke. Curator: Absolutely. Consider the social context. Military treatises were popular amongst the aristocracy at this time. This image shows the calculated geometry required to lay siege to and capture fortifications juxtaposed against its visceral reality. The upper portion illustrates precisely how to construct entrenchments while below we see riders amidst musket smoke and fallen figures. The very material of the print--the paper and ink--becomes a means through which power is brokered and disseminated. Editor: And power visualized for consumption by an elite class who might study this. De Hooghe, in placing both realities, the map and battle so distinctly creates something didactic that has as much to do with politics as strategy. Curator: Yes. I wonder too, if by presenting a chaotic depiction of battle right under the clear planning the artist intends to challenge or question the notion of total control or success by virtue of strategy alone. Editor: Interesting, I suppose by showing the tools needed for destruction alongside such destruction, there is some form of implied critique. The line between design and deployment is obviously at the forefront, isn’t it? What I keep wondering is how prints such as these circulated, were they bound, collected, pinned up on a wall to consult? Curator: Those are great questions! Knowing its potential display and circulation further reveals much about the function this image serves as a site of debate, instruction, and power dynamics. I am left thinking about the act of planning the unthinkable through these tools. Editor: I find it compelling that even today we continue to digest information and shape opinion via these print mediums that carry their own biases and agendas depending on where they’re circulated and consumed.