De Lederbereider (The Leather Tanner) - Cornelis van der Sys

A detailed eighteenth-century etching depicting a leather tanner at work, from the Menselyk Bedryf series documenting Dutch trades.

This etching by Cornelis van der Sys originates from the series Menselyk Bedryf, a collection documenting various trades and occupations in the Netherlands during the early eighteenth century. The print depicts a leather tanner at work, hunched over a wooden beam as he scrapes a hide. The scene is set outdoors near a structure, with a secondary figure visible in the background, providing a glimpse into the daily labour of the period.

The composition follows the conventions of Dutch genre prints, which often combined visual documentation of manual labour with moralising or didactic verse. The text below the image, attributed to the poet Jan Luiken or his circle, reflects on the utility of the tanner's craft, drawing a parallel between the transformation of raw animal hides into useful leather and the refinement of the human spirit. The artist employs precise, linear hatching to define the textures of the hide, the wooden tools, and the surrounding environment, creating a clear sense of space and activity.

Van der Sys was active in the early 1700s, a period when the documentation of urban and rural trades became a popular subject for printmakers. These works provide a record of historical techniques and tools that have long since vanished from common practice. The print is presented here as a high-quality reproduction, capturing the fine detail of the original etching plate. It offers a window into the economic life of the Dutch Republic, where the mastery of specific crafts was essential to the prosperity of the nation. The work is a study in both technical skill and the social history of labour, presented with the clarity characteristic of the era's printmaking traditions.