The Miracle (Le miracle) 1960

This etching, *The Miracle*, was made by Marino Marini, who lived from 1901 to 1980. The image, made with ink on paper, shows a horse and rider in extremis, caught in a moment of high drama. Its power comes from the artist's masterful use of line. Notice how the etched marks create areas of shadow and light, lending the figures weight and volume. Etching is an indirect process. The artist covers a metal plate with a waxy ground, then scratches an image into that surface, exposing the metal. When the plate is immersed in acid, the exposed lines are eaten away, creating grooves. These are then filled with ink, and the plate is pressed to paper. The controlled violence of this process echoes the tense relationship between horse and rider. Marini’s work prompts us to consider not only what art represents, but also how its making imbues it with meaning. It collapses any distinction between fine art and something more visceral.