Voetsoldaten en een ridder te paard trekken voorbij een edelvrouw 1847 - 1909

Edgar Alfred Baes made this etching, ‘Foot soldiers and a knight on horseback passing a noblewoman’ sometime in the 19th century. The etching process is fascinating: the artist covers a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground, then scratches an image into it with a needle. When the plate is dipped in acid, the exposed lines are eaten away, creating grooves that hold ink. This one is especially fine, with thousands of tiny strokes creating a full tonal range. The controlled, meticulous labor involved in etching contrasts with the image's subject: medieval nobility, with their supposed freedom from toil. But even in the Middle Ages, labor was at the heart of it all – think of the blacksmith making the knight’s armor, or the weavers producing the noblewoman’s fine clothes. The print reminds us that even symbols of power are products of work.