Stalinterieur met man die een paard borstelt 1781

Marguerite Ponce made this print of a stable interior in the 18th century using etching. The artist would have coated a copper plate with wax, drawn the image with a fine needle, and then bathed the plate in acid, which bites into the exposed lines. Ink fills these grooves, and then is transferred to paper under pressure. It’s a printmaking process capable of rendering fine detail, as we can see in the depiction of the figures, the texture of the horse’s coat, and the straw overhead. But etching is also, inherently, a medium of multiples. Ponce’s print would have been made in a relatively large edition, meaning that the image could circulate widely. It brings us into the everyday world of labor, and a relationship between people and animals that would have been very common at the time. Considering the amount of labor involved in its production, and its accessibility, we might reflect on how it challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.