Landschap met drie molens 1875

Théodore Tscharner made this landscape with three windmills using etching, a printmaking technique, sometime in the 19th century. The image is spare but evocative, with closely-hatched lines that define the scene, a flat landscape punctuated by the verticals of the mills. To make this, Tscharner would have coated a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground. Using a sharp needle, he scratched away the ground, exposing the metal. The plate was then immersed in acid, which bit into the exposed lines. This process determined the depth and darkness of the lines, which hold the ink when printed. The resulting print bears the mark of this process, with its slightly rough, uneven lines. This reflects both the skill of the artist, and the labor required to produce each print, by hand, one at a time. This attention to the work of image-making reminds us that even seemingly simple landscape scenes are, in fact, the product of human effort. Looking at this print, we can appreciate that art is not just about what is depicted, but how it is made.