Tsaar Peterhuisje te Zaandam en Tsaar Peter de Grote werkend op de werf te Amsterdam, 1697 1814

Jacob Ernst Marcus made this etching around 1800, showing Tsar Peter the Great both in his humble abode in Zaandam and working on the docks in Amsterdam. The etcher's art is one of reproduction, making many copies from a single matrix. The drawn line, bitten into a metal plate by acid, is the key element here. Note how Marcus uses a vocabulary of marks to describe a wide range of textures: the rough-hewn timbers of the house, the bodies of the workers, and the more refined clothing of the observing dignitaries. By this time, the romantic idea of the noble worker had really taken hold. Peter the Great, as represented here, may have been a highly placed individual, but he is also shown very much in his element, taking part in the great collective enterprise of shipbuilding. In this sense, Marcus’ print is less about the Tsar himself, and more about the kind of society that makes such an image possible.