Gezicht op de buitenplaats Meerleveld, in Baambrugge 1730

Abraham Rademaker made this print of the Meerleveld estate in Baambrugge, sometime around the turn of the 18th century, using etching. The process begins by coating a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant substance. The artist then scratches an image into this coating, exposing the metal beneath. When the plate is submerged in acid, the exposed lines are eaten away, creating grooves. Ink is then applied to the plate, filling these grooves, and the surface is wiped clean. Finally, paper is pressed onto the plate, transferring the ink and creating the print. Look closely, and you can see the crisp precision and detail that etching allows; it was ideally suited to the depiction of elaborate architecture. Yet it’s also important to recognize that this refined aesthetic was in the service of depicting wealth, status and ownership. Rademaker’s etching process, a skilled hand-craft, was here deployed to celebrate the rise of a proto-capitalist elite.