Twee mannen in een sloep 1841

Egidius Linnig made this etching, "Two Men in a Boat," in 1841. The primary material is the metal plate itself, likely copper, meticulously incised to hold ink. This is a printmaking process known as etching. The plate is covered with a waxy ground, and the artist scratches through this ground with a needle to expose the metal. The plate is then immersed in acid, which bites into the exposed lines. This determines the depth and character of the lines that will hold the ink. The image is built up through a labor-intensive process of drawing, acid-biting, and printing. Linnig’s image evokes the daily grind of labor, and is far removed from the high-minded themes of academic art. This small print exemplifies the kind of close observation and technical mastery that underpinned so much artistic production in the 19th century. It challenges us to consider the labor involved, not just in the depicted scene, but in the making of the artwork itself.