Landschap met ruiters 1605 - 1673

Lucas van Uden made this print, "Landschap met ruiters," using the etching process. This is a way of incising an image into a metal plate, inking it, and then running it through a press. The real skill here is in the drafting. The artist has created a complex and convincing landscape with only a few precisely placed lines. Notice how the texture of the terrain changes as the landscape recedes, all achieved through subtle modulations of the etched line. It’s worth considering the social context of printmaking in van Uden’s time. Etchings like these were relatively inexpensive and could be widely distributed. It was a way of democratizing images, making them available to a broader public than paintings, which were luxury objects. So while this may seem like a modest work, it’s actually a fascinating example of how new technologies can change the way we see the world. Appreciating its material reality allows us to reflect on the broader social and cultural meanings it carries.