Italiaans meisje 1868

This is ‘Italiaans Meisje’, made by Jan Mesker sometime in the 19th century. It's an etching, which means the artist would have covered a metal plate with a waxy ground, scratched an image into it with a needle, then bathed the plate in acid. The acid bites into the exposed metal, creating incised lines that hold ink. In this print, the etched lines have a crisp, precise quality, and you can really see how the material influences the appearance, dictating the grayscale that gives a sense of depth and shadow. The process is inherently reproductive; it allowed Mesker to create multiple impressions of his image. The image has a social significance as well. Consider the labor involved: not just Mesker's skill, but also the work of the printmaker who made the paper, the factory workers who produced the acid, and even the miners who extracted the metal for the plate. This piece invites us to think about how materials, making, and context intertwine, challenging the old divide between art and craft.