The Three Men and the Porter 1621 - 1675

Allart van Everdingen made this print, "The Three Men and the Porter," using etching, a printmaking technique, sometime in the mid-17th century. The starkness of the etched lines gives a sense of the unforgiving landscape, its rocky paths and dense vegetation. The process of etching itself is crucial to understanding the image. Van Everdingen would have coated a metal plate with wax, scratched his design into it, and then submerged the plate in acid. This etches the exposed lines into the metal, allowing for multiple prints to be made. Consider the division of labor implied here: the artist creating the image, the etcher carefully transferring it to the plate, and the press operator producing the final print. And let's not forget the porter, carrying the baggage of the three men. Van Everdingen's mastery of the etching process, with its reliance on craft and skilled labor, allows us to consider the social dynamics at play in this seemingly simple scene.