Gezicht op de Helpoort te Maastricht, gezien vanaf de veldzijde 1831 - 1904

Arnoud Schaepkens created this etching of the Helpoort in Maastricht, using a metal plate, acid, and ink. The image comes from the incisive, subtractive process of etching. The plate would have been coated with a waxy ground, through which the artist scratched this composition. The plate was then submerged in acid. Where the metal was exposed, it would be eaten away. Ink was then applied, and the plate wiped clean, leaving ink only in the etched lines. The image was then transferred to paper under great pressure. The social context here is of a 19th-century art world in which printmaking was seen as a lesser pursuit than painting or sculpture. Yet the linear intricacy and tonal range achieved in this modest print are remarkable. Schaepkens skillfully used the etching process to capture the texture and weight of the old city gate. Consider how the artist adopted a craft medium to depict a structure that was itself the product of immense labor. In doing so, he challenges conventional hierarchies of art and making.