Gezicht op het Escorial 1786 - 1826

Hendrik Roosing created this image of the Escorial using etching, a printmaking technique, sometime between his birth in 1763 and his death in 1826. The process begins with a metal plate, coated with a waxy ground. Roosing would have scratched into this surface with a needle to expose the metal, then immersed the plate in acid, which bites into the exposed lines. This painstaking process is repeated until the desired depth and darkness of the lines are achieved. Ink is then applied to the plate, filling the etched lines, and the surface is wiped clean. Finally, the plate is pressed onto paper, transferring the image. Consider the labor involved in this kind of image making. It represents an investment in the reproduction of imagery, in its dissemination to a wider public. Roosing’s print offered people in the Netherlands an image of a distant place. Paying attention to material, making, and context allows us to appreciate the social significance of this artwork, and to question our assumptions about art and craft.