Kaart van het Nauw van Calais, 1709 1709

This map of the Strait of Dover was made in 1709 by Jacobus Harrewijn, using engraving on paper. It's not just a depiction of land and sea, but a record of human activity, achieved through a labor-intensive process. Engraving, unlike drawing or painting, is an indirect process. The artist doesn’t directly apply marks to the paper; instead, they incise lines into a metal plate, which is then inked and printed. Harrewijn would have used a tool called a burin to cut those lines, each one representing a contour of the coast, a wave, or a ship. Consider the implications of this technique. Every line is a deliberate act, a decision about what to include and what to leave out. And each print pulled from the plate bears the mark of that labor, a physical trace of the artist's hand. In this context, the map becomes more than just a navigational tool. It’s a testament to the engraver's skill, and a reminder of the human effort required to understand and represent the world. It challenges our traditional distinctions between art, craft, and labor.