Making contact

Abstract

This article explores the intersection between friendship and artistic collaboration through a focus on the engraving production of a group of itinerant Netherlandish artists who, in the wake of the Dutch Revolt, lived and worked in Munich, seat of the court of Wilhlem V. The first part of this contribution introduces Joris Hoefnagel, several printmakers from the Sadeler dynasty and other artists active in Munich. An analysis of the artistic gifts which the Netherlanders exchanged in Munich suggests that they enjoyed membership of an egalitarian circle sustained by friendship and artistic aspirations. The second half of the article examines the engraved series Salus Generis Humani (1590): the co-creation of Joris Hoefnagel, Aegidius II Sadeler and Hans von Aachen. Through a collaborative working practice, the three artists conceived engravings that self-reflectively alluded to their composite facture and which constituted another expression of the humanist friendship underpinning their professional and personal contacts.