Opdracht bij serie Livre De Diverses Grotesques (...) 1647

Michel Dorigny created this print, “Opdracht bij serie Livre De Diverses Grotesques” sometime in the 17th century. It’s made using the intaglio process, a technique in which an image is incised into a plate, usually copper, which then holds the ink for printing. The resulting image has a crisp, precise character, ideally suited to the elaborate composition here. We see a dedication to someone important, framed by foliage, cherubs, and heraldic devices. But it is not just the design, but the making that gives this print its particular cultural charge. Dorigny would have used specialized tools like burins and scrapers to work the metal. Each line is the result of careful labor, a testament to the skilled hand. The multiplicity afforded by printmaking, however, speaks to a different ethos of production: one poised between unique craftsmanship and mass dissemination. It’s this tension that makes prints like these so compelling. They are not just images, but artifacts of a changing world.