Landschap met bomen en drie grazende koeien 1845 - 1885

This is a landscape etching with trees and three grazing cows, made by Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen. Look closely, and you can see how the image is constructed from a dense network of lines. These weren’t drawn directly, but bitten into a metal plate using acid. This painstaking process demanded a deep understanding of materials, and a tolerance for the unpredictable. The artist would have covered the plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground, scratched the image into it, and then immersed the plate in acid. The longer it was left, the deeper the lines. The resulting print is an object that carries a charge of labor. The artist invested time and skill, not just in the composition, but in the repetitive physical act of incising the plate. This reminds us that art making is work, often highly skilled, but nonetheless connected to wider social and economic conditions. It challenges the romantic idea of the artist as someone separate from everyday concerns, and helps us understand the rich intersection of art, craft, and labor.