Portret van een onbekende jongen 1831 - 1890

This "Portret van een onbekende jongen" was made by Jean Baptiste Pierre Michiels, and is rendered in a printmaking technique called etching. Take a look at the way Michiels uses a dense pattern of fine lines to create the image. In etching, an artist covers a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant coating, then scratches an image into it with a special needle. The plate is then submerged in acid, which bites away at the exposed metal. The longer the plate is left in the acid, the deeper the lines, and the darker they will appear when printed. The subtlety of tone in this portrait, from the boy's softly modeled face to his tweed jacket, reveals Michiels’ masterful control of the etching process. Think of the labor involved in creating this intricate pattern, line by line. Printmaking was often used as a means of distributing images widely and relatively cheaply, contributing to a visual culture accessible to a broad audience. Ultimately, understanding the processes and materials that brought it into being gives us a much richer appreciation of the artwork.