Karel V herstelt de koning van Tunis 1574 - 1578

This print, made by Frans Hogenberg around the late 16th century, presents a bird's-eye view of Karel V restoring the King of Tunis. It’s made with engraving, a printmaking process involving cutting lines into a metal plate, applying ink, and pressing it onto paper. The material itself – the incised metal, the dark ink, the relatively inexpensive paper – speaks to the print's original function as a medium of information. The texture, weight, color, and form result from the labor-intensive process of engraving. Look closely, and you can see how lines and marks define the forms, the sea, the land, and the numerous figures. This kind of printmaking played a crucial role in disseminating knowledge during the early modern period, circulating images and stories that could reach a broad audience. The level of detail indicates the amount of work involved in producing just one of these prints, of which many would have been made. So, considering the materials, the making, and the context opens up our understanding of how images like this shaped historical consciousness.