Opnemen van twaalf stenen uit de Jordaan en de vorst verschijnt aan Jozua 1791

This print, made by Simon Fokke around the mid-18th century, is an engraving. Meaning, the image was carved into a metal plate, inked, and then printed onto paper. The image shows a scene from the Book of Joshua. It depicts the Israelites carrying twelve stones from the Jordan River to build a monument. Engraving was a painstaking process. Each line had to be carefully incised into the metal, demanding immense skill and time. The final print shows clean, precise lines, but the original plate would have been a testament to the engraver’s labor. The prevalence of prints like this one reminds us that images circulated widely in early modern Europe. They helped people to learn about events, and concepts of the time, and they still offer us a tangible connection to the past. Appreciating how they were produced gives us insight into the cultural values of the time.