Gezicht op een kanaal met op de achtergrond een toren 1879

Léon Dolez created this print of a canal scene using etching, a process that's all about controlled corrosion. The artist would have covered a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground, then scratched an image into that ground with a needle. When the plate is submerged in acid, the exposed lines are bitten, creating grooves that hold ink. The deeper the bite, the darker the line when printed. Look closely at the water; see how the reflections are built up with many tiny marks? That's the etcher's craft, turning a chemical process into a picture. Etching allowed for relatively easy reproduction, feeding the 19th-century appetite for images. This print, with its serene view, speaks to the rise of urban leisure and the industrialization that made it possible. It reminds us that even seemingly simple images are the result of skilled work and social forces.