Enclosed Valley

c. 1623–30

Enclosed Valley, c. 1623–30. Hercules Seghers (Dutch, 1589/90–c. 1638). Etching on cloth, hand colored with watercolor; platemark: 10.7 x 19 cm (4 3/16 x 7 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1951.349 To make his dreamy and mysterious landscapes, Hercules Seghers combined a number of etching and coloring techniques in order to make prints that met his expressive ends, and which he considered printed paintings. He created 54 etchings, but instead of producing standardized editions printed in black ink on white paper, he made each impression a unique and individualized work of art. He often printed in colored inks on paper prepared with a colored ground, or on cloth (as here), and then painted the printed impression by hand. Cleveland’s etching is one of only ten known impressions of the first state of this print. Though largely unknown today, Hercules Segers was one of Rembrandt's favorite artists: he owned eight paintings and one printing plate by Seghers.