Kop van man met halflange baard 1780

This is a head of a man with a half-length beard, etched by Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine. It’s rendered entirely through the intimate, and physically exacting, process of etching. Consider how the materiality of the print—the paper, the ink, and the marks incised into the metal plate—all influence its appearance. The artist would have used a sharp needle-like tool to draw the image onto a wax-coated metal plate, which was then submerged in acid. The acid bites into the exposed lines, creating grooves that hold the ink. The plate is then wiped clean, leaving ink only in the etched lines. Finally, the plate is pressed onto paper, transferring the image. The resulting print carries a social significance tied to labor and production. Each line, each shadow is a testament to the artist's skilled hand and time. The material and the making process of etching thus add layers of meaning to the image, challenging traditional divisions between art and craft.