Portret van kunstenaar Andreas Schelfhout 1822 - 1845

This is a portrait of the artist Andreas Schelfhout, made anonymously using a printmaking process. Look closely, and you'll see the image is comprised of thousands of tiny lines, carefully etched into a metal plate. This intaglio technique is incredibly labor intensive, requiring a skilled hand to transfer the design, and then meticulously engrave it. The quality of line speaks to this, as does the modulation of tone, created by varying the density and direction of the engraved marks. The printmaking process, while demanding, allowed for the reproduction of images on a scale that painting simply could not match. This made art more accessible, but also altered its status. Rather than being unique, handcrafted objects, prints became part of a system of mass production, and a nascent culture of consumption. The subject, Schelfhout, was a celebrated landscape painter, but here he's been transformed into a commodity, available for purchase and display in the homes of a growing middle class. So, next time you see a print, remember the unseen labor that went into its making, and the social forces that shaped its production.