Portret van Claude Fauchet c. 1792 - 1808

Lambertus Antonius Claessens made this print of Claude Fauchet using engraving techniques, a world away from our digital screens. Look closely, and you'll see that the image isn't made of continuous tones, but thousands of tiny, carefully placed lines. The artist would have used a tool called a burin to cut these lines into a copper plate, with each line holding ink to transfer to paper. Engraving demands precision, patience, and a deep understanding of materials. It was often used for reproduction because the matrix could be used multiple times to make identical images. Prints like these made images available to a much wider public, connecting to the increasing circulation of both images and political ideals. This wasn't just a mechanical process, though. Claessens would have needed artistic skill to translate the likeness of Fauchet onto the plate, using the language of line to capture form and texture. So, next time you see a print, remember the hand-made skill involved. It blurs the lines between craft and art.