Abraham verstoot Hagar en Ismaël 1505 - 1510

This is Abraham Casting out Hagar and Ishmael, an engraving made by Lucas van Leyden in the early 16th century. Engraving is an intaglio process, meaning that the image is incised into a surface—in this case, a copper plate. The artist would have used a tool called a burin to cut lines into the metal, creating grooves that hold ink. The plate is then wiped clean, forcing the ink to remain in the incised lines. Finally, paper is pressed against the plate, transferring the image. Look closely, and you can see the dense network of lines that define the figures and landscape. The cross-hatching creates subtle gradations of tone, giving the image a sense of depth and volume. This print would have been relatively inexpensive, allowing for wide distribution of the image, and the story it tells. Van Leyden was a master of this technique, demonstrating how a reproducible medium can be elevated to high art.