Personificaties van tijd, waarheid en recht bij een waterput 1678

Johann Jakob Thurneysen produced this etching, 'Personifications of Time, Truth, and Justice at a Well', using a copper plate. The image is rendered through a painstaking layering of fine lines to create tone and shadow. The key to understanding this print lies in recognizing the labor involved. Etching is an indirect process. The plate needs to be coated with wax, the design carefully scratched into that surface, and then acid is applied to bite the exposed metal. The image slowly emerges through this iterative process. Consider the social context; prints like these were produced in multiples, making imagery and ideas accessible to a broader audience. The skilled labor of the artisan directly translates into a symbolic language accessible across society. Ultimately, the physical act of making—the repetitive scratching, the corrosive action of acid—is inseparable from the artwork’s meaning. The values of Time, Truth, and Justice are achieved through equally rigorous and time-consuming work.