Gezicht op Saint Paul's Cathedral te Londen gezien vanaf de noordwestzijde after 1722

This print of Saint Paul's Cathedral was made by Nicolas Jean Baptiste Poilly sometime before 1758, using etching and possibly engraving. The technique allows for incredibly fine detail, which we see in the rendering of the building. The artist has used line work to build up the image, hatching and cross-hatching to add tone. We can imagine the artist working carefully with etching needles and burins to create the printing plate. The coloring would have been added by hand afterward, probably by workshop assistants. Although it looks like a quick process, prints like this one involved many hours of labor. Prints like this one were made to feed a growing market in images of famous places. They represent the commodification of culture, and the beginnings of the tourist industry. Though the cathedral itself was built to celebrate God, this image of it was made to celebrate something else: consumer capitalism.