Visserswoning 1830 - 1831

This print, “Visserswoning,” or “Fisherman’s Dwelling,” was made by Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps using a technique called etching. Etching is an intaglio printmaking process, in which lines are incised into a metal plate using acid. The plate is covered with a waxy ground, and then the artist scratches an image into the ground with a pointed tool, exposing the metal. When the plate is immersed in acid, the exposed lines are etched into the metal. Here, Decamps used the etching process to describe the material qualities of a stilted home, likely somewhere in Northern Africa. You can almost feel the wooden posts supporting the structure, and the sandy beach below. Decamps was part of a generation of artists that took to the road, finding new subject matter away from Europe. This print gives us a glimpse into a style of dwelling specific to a time and place, and reflects the artist's own journey in search of new motifs, which democratized fine art by placing value in the lives of working people.