Dream of Worship

Droom der Aanbidden (original Dutch title)

Etching and aquatint printed on thick tan wove paper.
Two states, one without the background of the sun’s corona and the veil draped over the hands, but on a smaller plate (9 ¾ x 6 ⅜ inches). These two states are a great reminder that in printmaking, more lines do not necessarily mean that you have found a later state. The size of the smaller plate, without background, makes it clear it comes after the one with background. The artist cut the plate down at the right side and at the bottom and scraped and burnished the background clean. The vaporous effect, one in which the praying hands and face seemingly emerge from the fog, must have haunted the artist’s mind as he was laboriously and meticulously drawing the sun’s rays and the veils pleats in the previous state. The work needed to scrape and burnish the whole background to obtain this new effect must have taken a lot of time and effort. This duo is a wonderful example of printmaking as a means to express variations on a theme to great effect.  

Signed, titled, and numbered in pencil.

Larger plate (earlier state): 11 ¼ x 7 ½ inches.
Smaller plate (later state): 9 ¾ x 6 ⅜ inches.