Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1868 - 1912

This is a portrait of an unknown woman, created by Maria van Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the Countess of Flanders. The delicate rendering of her face and elaborate hairpiece is achieved through etching, a printmaking process that uses acid to cut into a metal plate. The Countess, born in 1845, moved in the highest social circles. Her engagement with etching, then, is an interesting example of aristocratic artistic practice. It’s a painstaking process, involving the careful layering of lines to create tone and form. But etching was also, by the 19th century, a relatively accessible medium. While not as directly tied to the industrial revolution as, say, photography, etching allowed for the relatively easy reproduction of images. This opened new avenues for disseminating artistic ideas, and allowed for a wider engagement with portraiture, beyond painted commissions. Considering the social context of this print, we can see how techniques traditionally associated with craft, like etching, played a crucial role in shaping artistic expression and visual culture during this period.