Staande man met puntige sik c. 1700 - 1725

Jean-Antoine Watteau created this print, titled "Standing Man with a Pointed Beard," using etching. The incisive quality of line is what leaps out at you - a direct result of the etching process. Watteau would have used a sharp needle to draw through a wax ground on a copper plate, exposing the metal. This was then submerged in acid, which bit into the lines, creating grooves. When inked, these grooves hold the pigment, transferring the image onto paper under high pressure. It’s interesting to consider this print in light of Watteau’s painting. In both, we see a fascination with costume and theatricality. The very act of etching, with its decisive lines and capacity for replication, suggests a world of multiples, a world increasingly shaped by commodity culture and industrialization. While seemingly worlds apart, prints such as these were as much a part of the changing world of production as any factory.