1634
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Watermill is a 1634 ink by French 17th Century, a Baroque work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This black-and-white print shows a river with a big, old watermill in the middle. The mill has a tall tower and a wooden wheel half-submerged in the water. Around it, a few people are working or walking near the shore. In the background, there’s a small town with trees and more buildings, and a few boats float on the river. The artist used fine lines to show every detail, like the texture of the water and the folds in the people’s clothes. This kind of printmaking is called *etching*—it’s how the whole image was made. Next, check out how *etching* works to see how artists create these sharp, detailed prints.
Seventeenth-century French printmakers turned ink into story. Their tools were burin and acid, paper their stage. Look at the Beggar Woman with Rosary (1622), etched on laid paper, her hands folded around faith, or The…
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