Staande vrouw met kind op de arm 1777 - 1779

This print, ‘Standing Woman with Child in Arms,’ was made by Pieter de Mare sometime before 1796, using etching on paper. Look closely, and you’ll notice the image is built up from a mesh of fine lines. With etching, a metal plate is coated with a waxy substance, and the artist draws through the wax to expose the metal. When the plate is dipped in acid, it bites away at these lines. The plate is then inked and printed. The resulting image has a directness, even an intimacy. De Mare’s image depicts a common subject, a mother and child, and in that sense, it’s quite different than the grand history paintings that were prized at the time. It has the quality of a quick sketch, a fleeting glimpse of everyday life. Prints like this one are important because they show us the other side of the 18th century. This was an era of enormous social change, including the rise of a new middle class with its own aesthetic interests. By valuing prints like this one, we expand our understanding of art history beyond the traditional focus on unique, high-status objects.