Portret van Benedikt Dominik Anton Cremeri 1749 - 1796

This portrait of Benedikt Dominik Anton Cremeri was made by Johann Ernst Mansfeld, using the technique of etching. Look closely, and you'll see the lines are not continuous, but rather composed of tiny dots and dashes. This is characteristic of the etching process, where a metal plate is coated with wax, the design is scratched into the wax, and then the plate is submerged in acid, which bites away at the exposed metal. The resulting plate is then inked and used to make prints. The fineness of the lines and the subtle gradations of tone give the portrait a delicate, almost ethereal quality. Etching was often favored for its ability to capture fine details, and the texture and weight of the paper support the image, but the labor-intensive process also speaks to the social context of the time, where skilled craftsmanship was highly valued. The print is an intimate object that reflects both the sitter's status and the artist's skill. This challenges any notion of a hierarchy between fine art and craft.