135/?

About this artwork

ets op chine collé

Art Historical Context

Johannes Arnoldus Boland’s etching, created between 1875 and 1876, represents a fine example of 19th-century Dutch printmaking. Measuring 248 by 209 millimeters, the work is executed on chine collé, a delicate technique in which the etched image is printed on thin Chinese paper before being mounted onto a thicker support sheet. This method lends the print a luminous quality and subtle tonal depth, allowing fine lines and textures to stand out with particular clarity. Boland worked during a period when etching experienced a revival across Europe, as artists embraced the medium for its expressive potential beyond simple reproduction. The numbering “135/? ” suggests the piece belongs to a larger series or portfolio, reflecting the systematic approach many printmakers adopted to explore subjects in depth. Such numbered works often formed part of ambitious projects that circulated among collectors and academies, underscoring etching’s growing status as an independent art form. Today the print offers viewers an intimate glimpse into both technical mastery and the quiet experimentation that characterized late-nineteenth-century graphic arts. Its modest scale invites close looking, rewarding attention to the interplay of line and surface that Boland achieved through traditional etching processes.

About the Artist

Johannes Arnoldus Boland · 1838–1922

Johannes Arnoldus Boland (1838–1922) was a Dutch etcher and engraver who played a significant role in the 19th-century etching revival in the Netherlands while serving as a restorer at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for over three decades. Born on December 19, 1838, in Geesteren, a small town in the eastern Netherlands, Boland dedicated his career to both preserving and creating art, embodying the d...