Gezicht op Gorinchem 1725 - 1803

This print of Gorinchem, made by Abraham Rademaker sometime around the turn of the 18th century, invites us to consider the labor embedded in its creation. The process of etching, in which a metal plate is coated, scratched into with a needle, and then submerged in acid, is laborious. The fine lines we see here, describing the town’s architecture and the sky above, represent hours of focused work. The etcher’s tools are humble, but the technique demands precision. But what is also depicted in the image, windmills and boats, represent other forms of labor as well, of course. The print, which would have been relatively inexpensive, puts all of this on offer for the viewer, a flat sheet of paper bearing witness to the many forms of work that constitute a place. The very fact that this image exists speaks to a culture interested in picturing itself through industry, and in making that picture widely available.