Portret van H.W. Mouton als baby 1877 - 1950

Barbara Elisabeth van Houten made this small etching of H.W. Mouton as a baby. It’s monochromatic, pale grey, with cross-hatched lines, and the baby is sitting, in profile, looking right. I imagine the artist, peering intensely, scratching away at the plate with a fine needle, trying to capture the fleeting image of babyhood. Those chubby arms and legs, that enormous dress engulfing the tiny body. I can imagine her wrestling with the acid bath, the inking, the printing, each stage a negotiation between control and accident. The scratches have a nervous energy, like the baby might crawl away at any moment. And what does the artist feel? Tenderness, perhaps? Or just the detached curiosity of the artist observing the world? Maybe Van Houten saw something of herself in that vulnerable little form, a reflection of her own fears and desires. It makes me think about how we all start out, so innocent, so full of potential, and how life etches its own marks on us as we go.