Man zittend in een kruiwagen 1803 - 1842

Anthonie Willem Hendrik Nolthenius de Man created this etching, “Man sitting in a wheelbarrow” sometime in the first half of the 19th century. Etching, like engraving, is an indirect form of incising, where the artist covers a metal plate with a waxy ground, draws through it to expose the metal, and then bathes the plate in acid. This bites the lines into the plate, which is then inked and printed. The material conditions of etching, like any mode of production, influenced the image. Etching allowed for the creation of images that were more expressive and detailed than what was possible with engraving, yet the labor required to generate the image remained considerable. Here, the artist depicts another laborer, resting wearily on his wheelbarrow. The print is a reminder of the hard work endured by much of the population during the Industrial Revolution, and a nod to the role of the printing press as a means of documenting the social conditions of the era. Nolthenius de Man's work asks us to consider the relationship between art, labor, and social context.