Koe aan de oever van een rivier 1657 - 1688

This print, ‘Cow on the Bank of a River’, was made by Marcus de Bye in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. It is an etching, a printmaking technique where a metal plate is coated with a waxy, acid-resistant substance, and the design is then scratched into this coating. When the plate is submerged in acid, the exposed metal is eaten away, creating an image that can be inked and printed. De Bye’s etching is economical: with just a few lines, he masterfully captures the texture of the cow’s hide and the surrounding landscape. The etching medium was particularly well-suited to depicting the everyday. In this case, it evokes the Dutch landscape and the animals that were crucial to the early modern economy. The print underscores that art, like craft, is deeply enmeshed in the material conditions of its making. It prompts us to reflect on the skilled labor involved and how it resonates with larger social and economic issues of the time.