Twee kaartende boeren 1739 - 1792

This print of card-playing farmers was made by John Greenwood sometime in the late 18th century. The technique used here is mezzotint, a printmaking process achieved by roughening the entire plate, then selectively burnishing areas to create lighter tones. Look closely, and you can see how the rough texture catches the ink, creating rich blacks and subtle gradations of light. Consider the labor involved in creating this image. The meticulous process of mezzotint, with its careful balance of roughening and smoothing, mirrors the labor of the farmers depicted, whose livelihoods depended on physical work and careful attention to the land. The dim lighting and crowded scene suggest a social world separate from the fields. The print invites us to consider the daily lives of these workers, and the ways in which labor and leisure are intertwined. By emphasizing the craft of printmaking, we can appreciate how Greenwood elevated the everyday lives of farmers to a subject worthy of artistic attention.