Remembrance of My Village (Souvenir de mon village) 

Alphonse Legros made this etching, *Remembrance of My Village*, using a metal plate, acid, and ink. It’s a scene of rural life, rendered in a style that highlights the labor involved in its making. The etching process itself is crucial to understanding this work. Legros would have painstakingly drawn the image into a waxy ground, exposed the plate to acid, and then printed the image. Notice the density of lines, built up through skilled labor. It's a world away from the slickness of industrial production. The use of etching as a medium has social significance. Unlike painting, which was the province of the wealthy, printmaking was more accessible, closely tied to the rise of newspapers and mass communication. Legros’ choice of this medium suggests a democratic sensibility, fitting for an artist who often depicted the lives of working people. So, when you look at this image, don’t just see a landscape. Consider the layers of human effort embedded in its very surface, and the social context from which it emerged.