Lucht 1618 - 1655

Cornelis Schut made this small etching, titled "Lucht," sometime before 1655. The image is made from a series of very fine, closely-worked lines, made with a tool called a burin. It would have taken great skill to control this tool and create such fine detail. Look closely, and you'll see that Schut was able to create a rich sense of shadow. The figure of the child, symbolizing air, seems to have real volume. But perhaps what’s most interesting is the way that Schut has represented labor, here, in a whimsical way. The putto sits atop what looks like a harvest wagon, laden with fruit. It makes you think of the seasonal labor required to bring in the fruits of the earth – labor that was anything but whimsical for the vast majority of people in Schut’s time. So, next time you see a print like this, remember that it's not just about the image, but also about the skilled labor and social context that brought it into being.