Man Sitting and Woman Carrying a Fish
Original title: Man Sitting and Woman Carrying a Fish
kurzbeschreibung
This sheet by Martin Engelbrecht, made in the first half of the 18th century as an etching with stipple work, opens onto a rural scene: a woman carries a fish, a boy sits beside her, and the setting has a tropical feel.
Description
On the left a woman in traditional dress stands holding the fish, her hair pinned up in a knot. A small boy has settled on the ground next to her, looking into a basket. Bamboo leaves frame the layout, and a simple tent on a pole with a patterned curtain can be made out, with another roofed tent to the right. Trees and shrubs surround the grouping. Light falling from behind lifts the background, while the foreground stays in shadow.
Context
Engelbrecht worked as a German publisher and engraver in 18th-century Augsburg. The sheet probably belonged to a series of genre scenes with exotic or rural motifs. Prints of this kind served as collectibles and decoration and circulated widely across Europe. The tropical surroundings likely refer to travel accounts of the period or to fashionable notions of distant lands.
Impact
Delicate stippling and the absence of colour give the image a quiet, idyllic mood. A bright background is set against a shadowed foreground; that contrast draws the eye to the figures and reinforces the rural calm.
Technique
Lines and hatching were engraved into the plate, and stipple work was added as well, producing fine tonal gradations and soft transitions. Printed in black, the sheet measures 28.1 × 21.4 cm trimmed.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)