Two Braziers and Three Salvers 1525 - 1600

René Boyvin made this engraving titled, 'Two Braziers and Three Salvers,' sometime in the 16th century. At that time, the French court was the epicenter of European culture, and artists played a crucial role in shaping its image. Prints such as this one, were a way of displaying the opulence of the French Renaissance, with its grotesque and fantastical ornament. Boyvin’s print provides a fascinating insight into the cultural values of his time. The salvers and braziers display not only wealth, but also the learning of their owners, in the classical allusions of their design. Boyvin has been celebrated as a leading light of the printmaking boom that took place in France at the time. But the art historian must also look at the way printmakers were employed by wealthy patrons or institutions such as the court, whose influence is evident in the motifs that they chose to depict. To better understand the image, we can look at prints and drawings from the period. From these we can consider the significance of ornament in Renaissance culture, and the way artists negotiated the demands of the institutions for which they worked.