Portret van Maria de Wilde

About this artwork

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Art Historical Context

Created in the early decades of the eighteenth century, *Portret van Maria de Wilde* is a finely executed etching by the Dutch printmaker Pieter van den Berge. Measuring just over 20 centimetres in height, the small sheet demonstrates the intimate scale often favoured for portrait prints intended for private collections or books. Van den Berge worked during a period when etching had become a preferred medium for Dutch artists seeking both precision and a lively, sketch-like quality. Etching allowed the artist to draw directly onto a prepared copper plate with a needle, then bite the lines int...

About the Artist

Pieter van den Berge · 1669–1769

Pieter van den Berge (1659–1737) was a Dutch draughtsman, printmaker, and publisher whose long career spanned the late Dutch Golden Age into the early 18th century. Born in 1659, likely in Amsterdam, van den Berge worked as an engraver, visual artist, editorial curator, and draughtsman during a period when Dutch printmaking was transitioning from the heights of the Golden Age into new commercial a...