Portret van Johann Kaspar Lavater op zijn sterfbed 1801

Christian von Mechel created this print, "Portret van Johann Kaspar Lavater op zijn sterfbed," using engraving techniques. Engraving, an intaglio process, involves cutting lines into a metal plate, inking the grooves, and transferring the image to paper under high pressure. Notice how the fineness of the lines gives a sense of both detail and the frailty of life slipping away. This method was labor-intensive, requiring skilled artisans. Here, the engraver translates the vulnerability of Lavater's final moments into a printed image. The act of reproducing this image through printmaking speaks to a culture where death and mourning could be shared publicly through the skilled work of artists like Mechel. Engravings like these were thus not only artistic statements, but also products of a system involving labor, skill, and distribution, intertwining art with the economic and social structures of the time.