Gezicht op Berlijn 1787 - 1819

Anker Smith made this print of Berlin using etching, a process of working lines into a metal plate with acid. The technique’s been around since the Middle Ages, but really flowered in the 1700s, because the relatively soft metal of the plate allowed for great detail. Look closely, and you can see that this isn’t just a straightforward depiction. There's a whole world of labor suggested here. Think of the engraver, bent over his bench, meticulously rendering every brick and spire. And before him, the labor that went into the city itself, the collective effort of building trades stretching back centuries. The fine detail, of course, would have appealed to a market eager to see accurate, up-to-date images of the world. So the print isn't just a picture; it's a commodity, evidence of a society becoming ever more interconnected, and industrious. The material tells the tale.