The Great Waterfall

In 1804, Josef Karel Burder (1779-1848), a painter, printmaker, art conoisseur, restorer and collector, became the first Custodian (later Inspector) of the Picture Gallery of the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts - the historical forerunner of the National Gallery Prague. His output focused on reproductions of Old Master paintings, caricature studies of human types and pre-Romantic landscape printmaking. The configuration of The Great Waterfall is a variant of the title page to the series of etchings in which Burde presented a wide range of themes in contemporary landscape printmaking. The series was produced over the long period of 1803-1813 and all seems to indicate that Burde had regarded the work as a long-term assignment, which he did not intend to rush, working on it at a time that was filled with numerous other tasks and activities, above all duties related to his function of Inspector. Burde’s etchings comprised two sets of numbering: the Arabic numbers marked the overall sequence of each sheet within the series, while the Roman numerals designated the position of the sheet, wherever it formed a part of two or three scenes. The title The Great Waterfall thus indicates that the etching was made as the sixteenth in succession and was produced as an individual print.