Bosrijk landschap met een vrouw en een jongen 1785 - 1857

Editor: We're looking at Gerrit Jan Michaëlis' "Bosrijk landschap met een vrouw en een jongen," which roughly translates to "Wooded landscape with a woman and a boy." Created sometime between 1785 and 1857, it's a print made with etching. There’s a wonderful textural quality to the etching—it feels quite raw and immediate. What jumps out at you when you look at this? Curator: Well, first, I see labor, in two distinct forms. The visible labor is the mother and child walking. The unacknowledged labor is the labor behind creating the etching plate, itself: the selection and preparation of materials, the precise application of acid resist, the calculated depth of the bite. How does this etching democratize landscape art by removing the cost associated with other materials? Editor: That’s a fascinating point. The print makes it more accessible and reproducible compared to painting. It takes it from the canvas, usually owned by a wealthy patron, into the realm of the public. How would its consumption change the popular idea of a pastoral setting? Curator: Exactly. Printmaking, in its relative accessibility, begins to break down the exclusive claim that the aristocracy had on landscape as a subject and as a property. People other than landowners can own and appreciate a view of nature, however mediated. The rise of the merchant class, access to paper, increased printmaking technologies–all of these developments affect who can buy, and enjoy these images. It is never only the visual experience. It is also the social reality. Editor: So it’s not just about the idealized view of nature but also the social and economic realities embedded in its production and consumption. Curator: Precisely. Every stage, from creation to circulation, affects its meaning and availability, altering landscape conventions themselves. Editor: I hadn't considered how deeply intertwined the artistic process and the materials are with the broader social and economic landscape. Thank you.