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Show 44 when compared with the vitality and movement of the composite image of the aquatint. Further, although the watercolors and sketches are the primary "eyewitness" documents, the prints were also produced by the eyewitness, albeit after time had elapsed and by European hands. These qualifications must be kept in mind, in order that Bodmer's reconstruction of the event is not simply dismissed as artistic license. It must be remembered that Bodmer had been very conscientious in reproducing the central core figures for the aquatint; they had been translated from the primary documents without significant change. It is reasonable to ask whether the portrait figures might also have been inserted into the image for other than strictly artistic reasons. Traditionally, artists have inserted foreground figures as observers into a historical composition as a method of including the viewer into the action. Often placed on the plane closest to the viewer, the "window effect" of the image can draw the viewer in, giving a sense of identification and participation in the action. As Sfh-Chida leans forward, engrossed in the action of the central figures, the viewer is invited to share his interest and to participate actively in the event. If the immediacy of the watercolors, in the sense that they were the only eyewitness documents, has been lost through the printmaking process, this accepted convention modified the loss, as it reintroduces artistically the effect of immediacy. However, the fact remains that years elapsed by the time the aquatint was produced. The information found in Bodmer's preliminary sketches closely details segments of the event as it occurred and serves as a visual supplement to Maximilian's journal description of the ceremony. The aquatint, |