Unusually, the genesis for Jan Lievens?s celebrated oil painting The Raising of Lazarus was in the form of an etching published a year earlier in 1630. It was more common during this period for etchings and engravings to derive from popular paintings to satisfy the demand for reproductions. This example is a re-working of Jan Lievens?s original copper plate by Frans van den Wijngaerde. Plates were often re-worked due to their limited life span; the etched or engraved grooves in the plate that retain the ink wear thin after a number of runs in the press. These grooves are reworked with a sharp tool to enable a larger print edition and to accommodate any changes an artist may wish to make. It is unusual to find an etching with six or more different ?states? and for each image to differ in both the contrast of the ink and added or deleted elements.
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