Herders met hond bij ruïne 1781 - 1822

This etching was created by Hermanus Fock, and it shows Herders met hond bij ruïne. The image is made using a process of etching, where lines are incised into a metal plate with acid, and then printed. Look closely, and you'll notice the incredibly fine details, the marks creating tone and texture. Fock was clearly attentive to the qualities of the etched line, and the possibilities of the printing process. But the subject of this image asks us to think about process in another way too. Consider the monumental architecture here, a structure that has suffered the ravages of time, so that it has returned to nature. Think of all the labor that must have gone into its original construction, contrasted with the apparent idleness of the herders in the foreground. In this image, the hard work of building is set against the gentler work of animal husbandry, both framed by the artist's own labor of depicting them.