De Waarheid van de universele geschiedenis onthuld 1737

This print, "The Truth of Universal History Unveiled," was made by Pieter Yver in the 18th century. It is an etching, meaning that the image was created by using acid to bite into a metal plate, which was then inked and printed. Look closely, and you’ll see a web of fine lines, creating the image. This was an intensely skilled process, requiring years of training. It allowed for the relatively cheap reproduction of images, bringing them into many hands. But it also took artmaking into an industrial mode, with the artist acting as a kind of manager of a chemical process, yielding images that could then be widely distributed. Notice how the figures are arranged. What do you make of the labor that produced this image, and the social context of its making? It's a reminder that all art is deeply intertwined with the world of production and consumption.