Landschap met molen aan het water 1876

Paul Emile Nicolié created this print of a waterside windmill using etching, a printmaking technique. Its linear quality comes from incising lines onto a metal plate, which then holds ink to transfer the image onto paper. The material qualities of the print influence its appearance, with each line carefully etched to define form, texture, and light. The image shows how traditional methods of milling grain were part of a changing landscape. Windmills like this represent a pre-industrial past, as labor was done using wind power. Yet the etching itself, as a reproducible medium, hints at the rise of new industrial processes. By focusing on materials, making, and context, we appreciate how this image exists at the intersection of old and new, craft and industry.