Reproductie van een prent van Balthasar Berckenrode met de binnenplaats van de Abdij te Middelburg after 1900

This is a reproduction of an earlier print by Balthasar Berckenrode, depicting the courtyard of the Abbey at Middelburg. It was made by the van Straaten brothers. The image is an etching, a printmaking process that involves using acid to cut lines into a metal plate. This is skilled work, demanding control over the corrosive action of the acid. Look closely, and you can see how the quality of the line varies, creating areas of shadow and light. Prints like this one were essentially a form of mechanical reproduction, allowing images to be widely circulated and consumed. The scene shows a bustling courtyard filled with figures, giving us a glimpse into the social life of the time. The labor involved is not just the van Straaten brother's - it includes the skilled labour of the original artist Berckenrode, whose composition they copied. This print blurs boundaries – not quite a fine art object, but a multiple, made with considerable skill. It's a window into the social context of the 17th century, and the labor involved in image-making.