Landschap met grijsaard c. 17th century

This landscape, made by an anonymous artist, is an etching: a print made by biting lines into a metal plate with acid. The nature of the etching process has a huge impact on the image. Look closely, and you'll see it’s composed entirely of tiny lines. The printmaker would have controlled the strength of the acid and the time of the bite, to create lines of different depth and thickness. This is how they built up the tonal range of the print, from the dark shadows under the trees, to the pale sky. Notice how even the most organic forms, like the trees and the flowing water, are rendered with this linear vocabulary. This gives the whole image a distinctive graphic quality. Etchings like this were relatively quick to produce, and were often made in multiples. That made them an ideal medium for circulating images and ideas widely. Considering the materials and processes used really enhances our appreciation of this intriguing landscape, blurring the boundaries between craft, design, and art.