Don Quichot en de leeuwenkar 1770

This print, "Don Quichot en de leeuwenkar," was made by Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki using etching, a printmaking technique that utilizes acid to corrode the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal. The lines that define the image are a direct result of this chemical process. The artist would have carefully controlled the depth and width of these lines to create the illusion of depth and texture. It’s a process of controlled degradation, not unlike the story it illustrates: Don Quixote, a would-be knight eroding under the pressures of reality. Etching, while a more modern technique than say, engraving, still demands intense labor and skill. The artist's hand is present in every line, but so too is the cold, rational process of industrial production. Prints like these were made for a growing reading public, hungry for images that could be reproduced and disseminated widely. Here, the making and the meaning of the artwork are deeply intertwined, speaking to the changing social and economic conditions of the time.