Gezicht op waterkant met poort voor een bomenrij 1799 - 1874

This waterside view was etched by Hendrik Jozef Franciscus van der Poorten, who lived in the Netherlands in the 18th and 19th centuries. It's an unassuming little work, but it speaks volumes about the world of printmaking. The artist would have coated a copper plate with wax, then carefully drawn through it with a needle to expose the metal. The plate was then immersed in acid, which bit away the lines. After removing the wax, the plate was inked, and the surface wiped clean, leaving ink only in the etched lines. Finally, damp paper was laid on the plate and run through a press, transferring the image. All of that labor, multiplied by the number of prints in an edition! Printmaking was crucial to the development of a mass audience for art. The result is a work that can be studied closely for its technique, but also considered for its place in the history of mass production.