Hands and arms 1644 - 1652

Wenceslaus Hollar made this print of hands and arms using etching, a printmaking process involving acid, sometime in the 17th century. Hollar would have covered a metal plate with a waxy, protective ground, then drawn through it with a sharp needle, exposing the metal. The plate was then immersed in acid, which bit into the exposed lines. The longer the plate stayed in the acid, the deeper and darker the lines would be. Finally, the plate was inked and pressed onto paper, transferring the image. The resulting image emphasizes the supple forms of the human body, but also the skilled labor required to represent those forms so convincingly. Note Hollar’s careful handling of the etched line, creating volume and shadow with tightly packed hatching. In its own way, this print celebrates not only the hand and arm, but also the etcher's craft.