Scene med to kvinder 1752 - 1833

This print, “Scene med to kvinder,” was made by Meno Haas around the late 18th or early 19th century, using a technique called etching. The image is created by incising lines into a metal plate, applying ink, and then pressing it onto paper. The fineness of the lines, and their close proximity, allow for a high degree of detail. You can see this in the textures of the women's dresses, the ornate furniture, and even the feathers on the hat. But of course this wasn’t a quick process, and this level of detail would have required many hours of labor. Prints like this were a key part of the 18th and 19th century media landscape, because they allowed images to be reproduced and disseminated widely. They sit at the intersection of craft and industry, dependent on individual skill but also on systems of distribution. So, next time you look at a print, consider not just the image, but the work that went into making it, and how this relates to broader histories of production and consumption.