Gezicht op huis Honselaersdijk c. 1763 - 1801

Isaac van Haastert created this print of Huis Honselaersdijk around the turn of the 19th century, using etching and engraving techniques on paper. The print’s linear quality results from the use of metal tools to directly incise lines into a copper plate. Ink is then applied, the surface wiped clean, and the image transferred to paper under great pressure. The depicted scene is thus achieved by a combination of skilled handwork, and industrial reproduction, as each printing makes many identical copies. The image represents a symmetrical garden filled with figures. The way the work is made enhances its visual qualities of clarity and precision. At the time, the Huis Honselaersdijk was a luxurious palace. But you also see the material conditions of its existence: a whole labor force of gardeners. This reflects the artist’s world, in which craft and mechanized production were beginning to transform the landscape and its social hierarchies. Paying attention to materials and making, we can see how prints like these are not just pictures, but records of a rapidly changing world.