Fotoreproductie van het schilderij De allegorie van het water door Jan Brueghel I before 1878

This photogravure of Jan Brueghel the Elder’s painting, 'The Allegory of Water', was made by Paul Joseph Nicolas Nestor Schaffers in the 19th century. Schaffers deployed a photomechanical process to create a printed image from an original artwork; a technique that emerged in the mid-19th century as photography became more accessible. Photogravure involves coating a copper plate with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue, exposing it to a photographic negative, and then etching the plate to create an image that can be printed. The resulting print captures a wide range of tones and fine details, similar to a photograph, but with the rich, velvety texture of an etching. In this reproduction, the layered, detailed texture and tonal range of the original painting are flattened into a more uniform surface. By using these techniques, Schaffers democratized fine art, making it accessible to a wider audience through mass production. This highlights the shift in the art world towards reproducibility and the changing dynamics of art consumption in the industrial era.