Antonio Santos — House and Countryside (The Peasant) — Etching, 36/50

House and field (The peasant) is an original etching by Antonio Santos, signed and numbered 36/50, depicting a small rural building surrounded by trees and cultivated fields. In the foreground, a peasant introduces a discreet human presence into a landscape dominated by vegetation and traditional architecture.

The composition balances luminous areas with networks of dark lines. Its concise drawing conveys the quiet of the rural setting.

Rural landscape in Antonio Santos’s work

Antonio Santos (Lupiñén, Huesca, 1955) is a painter, illustrator and author. His career spans painting, drawing, printmaking and illustration, developing a personal figurative language characterised by simplified forms and attention to everyday elements. In 2004 he received second prize in Spain’s national award for children’s and young people’s book illustration for Pancho.

In this print, the artist explores a traditional landscape subject: the relationship between rural architecture, cultivated land and human presence.

Two large trees in the foreground frame the composition and lead the eye towards a country house partly surrounded by vegetation. The small peasant figure establishes scale and reinforces the everyday character of the scene.

The diagonal lines of the fields, branches and leaves introduce movement into a landscape that conveys an overall sense of stillness.

The etching process

The drawing is elaborately worked through crossing lines, parallel strokes and small incisions that construct the surfaces of the trees, vegetation and ground.

Etching, one of the main intaglio techniques, produces a wide variety of lines and tonal values from a metal plate worked through acid-biting processes.

Here, areas of greater graphic density contrast with broad white reserves of paper, which define the light on the façade and the open spaces of the landscape.

The print retains wide margins, a rectangular plate mark and the deckle edges characteristic of printmaking paper. It is signed in pencil and numbered 36/50.

Technical details

• Artist: Antonio Santos (Lupiñén, Huesca, 1955).

• Title: House and field (The peasant).

• Technique: Original etching.

• Support: Heavy printmaking paper with natural deckle edges.

• Paper dimensions: Approximately 36 × 26.5 cm.

• Plate-mark dimensions: Approximately 15 × 12 cm.

• Edition: 36/50

• Signature: Signed “Antonio Santos” in pencil in the lower-right margin.

• Genre: Rural landscape and figuration.

• Condition: Good overall condition. Paper with wide margins and natural deckle edges.

The Taller Note

The most interesting feature of this print is the way the two foreground trees frame the house and the small peasant figure. Antonio Santos combines densely worked drawing with broad white areas to create a balanced, luminous composition. The quality of the line, the rural subject and the numbering 36/50 make this an engaging example of his graphic work.