Ivan Earl

Appreciating the work done by a Master of Art is but one aspect of comprehending what you see and like. Understanding the process behind the artwork is like understanding how silk cloth is produced and its luxurious feel. The silkworm is omitted from what we feel, just like the skill used by artists who used copper plates and ink to print their finished etching. Joseph George Strutt was a Grandmaster of etching, and I feel the same about Rembrandt van Rijn’s work. I began to see how good Strutt was, as everything pictured was in place, including subtly etched aspects of rural life known to people of the time. Strutt produced in size a colossal book. The etchings are more significant than expected, measuring 21 1/2 inches wide by 14 1/4 inches long in landscape form, and are on individual pages of thick India paper. The book’s printed sheets are of a different texture, rendering the sensation of raised printing where I could differentiate letters sufficiently to recognise words, as would a blind person. I bought Sylva Britannica on a return trip to England in 1977. The asking price was calculated by the number of saleable etchings. Then it saddened me, as it does today, as the etchings are more valuable than the entire book that 200 years later is worse for wear.

My mother, my son and I have depression and from living with the illness, I've realised that it takes on many forms. At 44 my mother willed herself to death; At 45 my son committed suicide, and I Attempted suicide at 44 Every day I have to tell myself I want to live But every new day there is the old challenge. The book didn't help me. The book made a number of my family members think after reading they knew about depression. They don't. Some of what's in the book I can relate, most I didn't.