Staande koe 1815

This is a print, "Standing Cow," made by Adam von Bartsch, probably in Vienna in the early 19th century. The method used was etching, a printmaking technique where acid is used to corrode a design into a metal plate, which is then inked and used to print the image onto paper. Looking closely, you can see the subtle tonalities achieved through the etching process. This wasn't an industrial process at this stage, but a skilled craft, demanding careful control of the acid and inking. The choice of subject matter - a humble cow - is interesting, given the work involved in its representation. Cows, of course, are central to agricultural labor. It's worth considering how such images, and their methods of production, circulated in the world. Prints like this made art more accessible, and were thus deeply enmeshed with the economic and social life of the period. By focusing on materials, making, and context, we begin to understand an artwork's full meaning.