Landschap met koeien en een vrouw die een emmer wast 1888 - 1891

This etching was made by Willem Steelink the Younger, who lived from 1856 to 1928. It shows a woman washing a pail by a pool, with cattle nearby. Steelink was a painter and etcher, who focused on rustic scenes like this one. The etching process, like all forms of printmaking, demands a certain mechanical discipline. The artist would have carefully rendered the image on a metal plate, incising lines that then hold ink. This is a process of translation, not unlike the labor of the woman washing her pail. That's the real subject of this print: work, in its various forms. The cows produce milk, the woman prepares it, and the artist diligently creates the image we see. Notice how the repetitive strokes that build up the image call attention to this effort. So, next time you look at a print, consider the labor involved in its making – a human contribution that often goes unnoticed.