Spinnende vrouw met twee kinderen en een staande man 1778 - 1830

Johan Jakob Biedermann made this print of a spinning woman, two children, and a standing man sometime in the late 1700's or early 1800's. It’s a simple composition, made with etching, a process that involves biting lines into a metal plate with acid, inking it, and then pressing it onto paper. The scene is modest and domestic, yet we can see in it the seeds of an enormous change in the way things were made. Before the Industrial Revolution, spinning was slow, painstaking work. Here, we see the woman using a wheel to mechanize the task. Though still powered by human labor, this simple machine is a harbinger of things to come. Look at how the artist renders the wheel itself, giving it pride of place. As production becomes increasingly systematized, these technologies will revolutionize not only the marketplace, but also society itself. And don’t forget the textile trader who waits to receive the final yarn. All will soon be changed.