Moeder met kinderen 1849 - 1863

This is Frederik Hendrik Weissenbruch’s “Mother with Children,” an etching. Etching involves covering a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant substance called a ground. The artist then scratches an image into the ground, exposing the metal, before immersing the plate in acid. The acid bites into the exposed metal, creating lines. The longer the plate sits in the acid, the deeper the lines become, allowing for variations in tone. Weissenbruch likely employed multiple rounds of etching to achieve the subtle tonal gradations seen here. The velvety blacks of the foreground contrast with the delicate grays of the distant cityscape, achieved through careful control of the etching process. Consider the skilled labor involved, and the way that repeatable printmaking techniques like this, democratize images. Instead of a unique painting, prints like this would have allowed middle-class people to decorate their homes with images of the Dutch countryside, connecting the worlds of labor, art, and domesticity. It makes you wonder about Weissenbruch’s own social milieu, and the audience he was trying to reach.