Landscape (after drawing by Jacob van Ruisdael)

Although William Baillie was a skilled amateur printmaker, this print is not especially successful in imitating the extreme tonal contrasts that were a hallmark of van Ruisdael’s work. On the right-hand side of the print, one can make out a spire that seems to be floating in the air, unattached to any church. In the original, this spire is set against a dramatically darkened sky and serves to emphasize the sunlit hill beyond which it is glimpsed. On the other hand, the print illustrates the flexibility of soft-ground etching techniques. The artist has quite convincingly mimicked pencil drawing by sketching on the soft wax ground with a soft implement (pencil or wood) rather than an engraver’s burin or drypoint needle, both of which gouge the surface of the metal plate. To further enhance the illusion of pencil, the artist has used a graphite-tinted ink.