Maria geeft het Christuskind de borst Possibly 1600 - 1879

This image of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child was printed by an anonymous maker. It’s an etching, meaning that the design was bitten into a metal plate with acid, then printed onto paper. The image has a soft, delicate feel; the figure is rendered with many fine lines. To achieve this effect, the etcher would have covered their metal plate with a waxy ground, then drawn through it with a sharp needle. After the plate was submerged in acid, the drawn lines would be eaten away, allowing for the image to take shape. As a method, etching lends itself to replicating images; it was commonly used to disseminate well-known paintings more widely. The relatively small size of this work would have made it easily portable. Although the artist is unknown, the print represents a distinct kind of labor – skilled, meticulous, and essential to the circulation of imagery. It reminds us that for every famous painting, there were many prints that amplified its reach, bringing art to a broader public.