Pijprokende en drinkende mannen in een herberg 1788 - 1806

Friedrich Rottmann made this print of men drinking and smoking in a tavern using etching. Etching, of course, is a printmaking process that relies on acid to cut lines into a metal plate, which is then inked and pressed onto paper. The fineness of line seen here is typical. It allowed Rottmann to capture the conviviality of the scene. But let's think about this in a broader context. Printmaking, though requiring skill, is inherently reproducible. In Rottmann's time, it was becoming a powerful medium for disseminating images widely, and relatively cheaply. This meant that scenes of everyday life, like this one in the tavern, could be shared with a broad audience. Looking closely, you can see the signs of labor and leisure commingling. The men are clearly enjoying themselves, but their faces and postures also suggest a working class. The print, then, becomes a social document, a reminder of the democratizing power of reproducible media. It gives access to social scenes from a time where society was starting to be documented by its own members.