Buste van een jongen 1788 - 1811

Dirk van der Toorn made this delicate etching, Buste van een jongen, at the turn of the 19th century. The entire image is built up from a network of fine lines scratched into a metal plate, which would then have been inked and printed. The resulting tonality and texture give a soft, almost blurry appearance, particularly well-suited to rendering the boy's face and the drape of the cloth around him. Etching like this was a highly skilled, labor-intensive process. The artist had to be a master draughtsman, and also a technician, understanding the properties of the metal, acid, and inks. Prints like this circulated widely, making art and images accessible to a broad public. It's easy to think of printmaking as a purely reproductive medium, a way of copying existing images. But in fact, the etcher was an artist in their own right, using the tools and techniques of the print shop to create something new. Paying attention to process helps us appreciate the skill and artistry that went into this unassuming image.