Gezicht op strand met scheepswerf 1628 - 1679

Adam Perelle created this print of a beach with a shipyard sometime in the late 17th century, using etching. Here, a metal plate, likely copper, would have been coated with a waxy, acid-resistant substance, and then the design scratched into that coating with a sharp needle. When dipped in acid, the exposed lines would bite into the metal, creating grooves. Ink would then be forced into these grooves, the surface wiped clean, and the image transferred to paper under great pressure. The resulting print has a unique visual language, defined by the incisive quality of the etched line. This was a technique ideally suited to brisk, descriptive scenes like this one, capturing the busy atmosphere of a shipbuilding yard with great efficiency. The etching process also allowed for the relatively easy creation of multiple images. So it is fitting that Perelle chose this medium to reproduce this scene of labor, which is an exercise in serial production of a different kind. Looking closely at the way the image was made encourages us to think about the social life of images, and the artistic skill required to produce them.