Twee sirenes naast mand met bloemen before 1716

This print, ‘Two Sirens Beside a Basket of Flowers’ was made in the 17th century by Nicolas Pierre Loir, using the technique of etching. Etching is an indirect intaglio process. A metal plate, usually copper, is coated with a waxy, acid-resistant substance called a ground. The artist then scratches an image into the ground with a needle, exposing the metal beneath. The plate is immersed in acid, which bites into the exposed lines, creating grooves. The deeper the grooves, the more ink they will hold. The etcher then removes the ground, inks the plate, and wipes the surface clean, leaving ink only in the etched lines. Damp paper is laid on the plate, and both are run through a press under high pressure, transferring the ink from the grooves to the paper. The linear quality, with the image built up through hatching, emphasizes the artificiality of the design. This makes it closer to the world of drawing, and further from the illusions of painting. This distance is exactly the point: Loir has given us not a copy of nature, but a demonstration of his art.