Landschap met boerin voor een hek 1832 - 1850

Louis Marvy’s “Landscape with a Farmer Woman in front of a Fence” is an etching, printed in ink on paper. It is interesting how this repeatable medium, so essential to the spread of information and, yes, propaganda, has been used here to evoke an intimate, almost private scene. Note how the etched lines create texture, not only describing the foliage but also lending the whole image a brooding quality. The artist, or perhaps the printer August Delatre named in the inscription, would have used acid to bite into the metal plate, allowing for multiple impressions to be made. Etching as a medium is indexed to industry, and the division of labour that comes with it. Yet here, the social realities of labor are more directly figured in the image of the farmer woman herself, quietly at rest at the fence. The image subtly prompts us to think about the social context of rural life, and the value of this kind of labor and land. It reminds us that all images are made through a material process, with social and cultural significance.