Portret van Philippe Cayeux 1760

Louis Simon Lempereur created this portrait of Philippe Cayeux using etching techniques. It’s a print, meaning that the image was incised into a metal plate, inked, and then transferred onto paper. The magic of etching lies in its control. Lempereur would have coated his metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground. He then used a sharp needle to scratch away the ground, exposing the metal beneath. When dipped in acid, the exposed lines would bite deeper, creating grooves to hold ink. The depth and thickness of these lines determined the tones of the final image. Look closely, and you’ll see the subtle variations in shading, achieved through careful manipulation of the etching process. Prints like these were important, allowing images to circulate widely. While a unique painting might be owned by one wealthy patron, an etching could be reproduced and sold, making art accessible to a broader audience, which reflects the social and economic shifts of the time.