Saint Bruno Giving his Order to Kneeling Monks c. 17th century

Editor: This is Claude Mellan’s Saint Bruno Giving his Order to Kneeling Monks, housed at the Harvard Art Museums. The hatching technique gives it a strangely ethereal feel, almost like looking at a hologram. What strikes you most about this print? Curator: The labor invested in this work is evident. The sheer number of lines etched to create the image speaks to a dedicated and repetitive process. Consider the material conditions: who commissioned this, what was Mellan paid, and how did this print circulate? Editor: That's fascinating. I was only considering the aesthetic aspects. Curator: And what about the paper itself? Its production and distribution were key to the spread of these religious ideas. The image becomes a commodity, intertwined with faith and power. Editor: I’ll definitely look at art differently now, considering not just the image, but also the means of its production.