Landscape with a Distant Village 1670 - 1750

Lodovico Mattioli made this landscape sometime in the late 17th or early 18th century, using etching. The magic of etching lies in its indirectness. The artist coats a metal plate with wax, draws into it with a needle, and then bathes the plate in acid, which bites into the exposed lines. This gives the print a distinctive, slightly irregular quality, quite different than an engraving, where the lines are cut directly into the metal. You can see that looseness in the way the trees are rendered, almost like puffs of smoke, and in the subtle gradations of tone across the sky. Think about the labor involved. Mattioli would have needed skills as a draughtsman, a chemist, and a printer. Etchings like this were relatively quick to produce, and affordable, and played a key role in disseminating visual ideas to a wide public. So, while the image itself may seem like a simple, romantic scene, the print is deeply embedded in the economic and social conditions of its time. By understanding the material process, we understand so much more.