Cattle Dealer on Horseback 1811

Johann Adam Klein made this print, *Cattle Dealer on Horseback,* using etching, a process where lines are incised into a metal plate with acid, then inked and printed. The medium lends itself to incredible detail, seen in the precise rendering of the horse's musculature and the cattle dealer's weathered face. Consider, too, the amount of labor invested in the production of this image. Johann Adam Klein would have carefully applied an acid-resistant ground to a metal plate, then used a needle to scratch away the ground, exposing the metal beneath. The plate was then immersed in acid, which bit into the exposed lines. The longer the plate remained in the acid, the deeper the lines became, resulting in darker tones when printed. This painstaking process resulted in an image with incredible tonal range and crispness of detail. Prints like this one were relatively accessible and reproducible at the time. Through his material and process, Johann Adam Klein invites us to reconsider the value of the labor behind both the image and the life of the subject represented.