Meisje met corsage - Feestmaal - Herder met koeien - Kaartende mannen 1826 - 1886

This is a print made by Dirk Jurriaan Sluyter sometime in the mid-19th century, using a technique called etching. With etching, the artist covers a metal plate with a waxy ground, then scratches into it with a needle, exposing the metal. The plate is then immersed in acid, which bites into the exposed lines. The longer the acid bath, the deeper the lines, and the darker they will appear when printed. This is a relatively indirect method, as the image only emerges through a chemical process. The resulting print has a distinctive character: a velvety quality, and a fineness of line not possible with engraving. Notice the crispness of the figures, from the ‘Meisje met corsage’ to the card players. This quality speaks to the print’s purpose: to disseminate images widely, contributing to a growing visual culture tied to mass production and consumption. While Sluyter was a skilled artist, his labor, like that of many printmakers, was ultimately in service of a larger system. The images here could be reproduced and distributed on a large scale, and were accessible to the masses. Through its materiality and means of production, this etching reflects the changing social and economic landscape of 19th-century Europe.