Venster met keldergat 1772 - 1779

Jean Pelletier created 'Venster met keldergat,' or 'Window with basement hole', as an etching. The image would have been produced by coating a metal plate with wax, and then using a sharp tool to draw through the wax, exposing the metal. The plate was then submerged in acid, which bit into the exposed lines, creating grooves that would hold ink. Etchings like this were a form of proto-industrial image-making. They allowed for the relatively quick production of detailed architectural drawings. The crisp lines and precise rendering speak to a culture increasingly interested in standardization and mass production. Consider the labor involved: from the mining of the metal for the plate, to the skilled hand of the draftsman, to the printing process itself. This image, like the architecture it depicts, is the result of many hands, each contributing to the final product. By attending to the material process, we can appreciate how even a seemingly simple image is deeply intertwined with the social and economic forces of its time.