Titelblad voor het verzamelde werk van Cornelis Bega c. 1710 - 1735

This is a title page for the collected works of Cornelis Bega, made anonymously, and printed on paper. It employs etching, a printmaking technique that’s all about controlled corrosion. The etcher coats a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground. They then scratch an image into this ground, exposing the metal beneath. When the plate is dipped in acid, the exposed lines are eaten away, creating grooves. Ink is then applied to these grooves, the surface wiped clean, and the image transferred to paper under pressure. The crisp, delicate lines you see here are characteristic of this process. Etching allowed for the relatively easy reproduction of images, making art more accessible. This was crucial for disseminating Bega's work, contributing to his fame and shaping artistic taste more broadly. The print embodies both skilled artistry and the early mechanics of a developing art market, an emerging culture of artistic consumption. It’s a reminder that even seemingly simple images have complex histories.