Jonge vrouw met parelketting en een pauw 1731 - 1794

This mezzotint, 'Jonge vrouw met parelketting en een pauw,' was created by Richard Houston in the 18th century. It's made by scraping and burnishing a roughened copper plate to create an image. The velvety blacks and soft gradations of tone were achieved with a tool called a 'rocker', laboriously and repeatedly passed over the plate. Mezzotint was a popular process for reproducing paintings because of the rich tonal range it could achieve, but it was also very labor intensive. In this image, the labor invested in the pearl necklace, the dress, and feather headdress is underscored by the labor required to create the print itself. Such prints were luxury goods, but, in this case, the title 'Pride' suggests a commentary on excessive materialism. Houston’s print invites us to consider how the values and labor invested in the creation of luxury items contribute to their cultural significance and, ultimately, to our understanding of art history.