Shepherd Resting in a Clearing
Medium
Etching printed in relief on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Plate: 25.9 × 20.5 cm (10 1/4 × 8 1/8 in.); Sheet: 30.5 × 22 cm (12 1/16 × 8 11/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
6587
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
While most etchings are created in the intaglio process whereby the etched lines hold ink, in this print by Harpignies, the work is printed like a woodcut, a relief process. Here the surface of the plate was covered with black ink and printed as a relief so that the etched lines, which do not hold ink, appear white. This was an unusual process to be used in the nineteenth century and was likely done by the artist as a technical experiment.