Grønnegården i Frederiks Hospital 1909

This photogravure, "Grønnegården i Frederiks Hospital" by Karl Jensen shows a wintry scene in shades of grey and black. Just imagine Jensen, bent over the metal plate, etching the image in layers. I think it's interesting how he uses the stark contrast of black and white to bring this scene to life, capturing the starkness of the trees against the building. You can almost feel the chill in the air. It reminds me of Piranesi's architectural prints – that same attention to line and detail. Jensen probably walked through that courtyard, feeling the cold, and thinking about how to translate that into a two-dimensional image. Maybe he liked the way the branches reached up like skeletal fingers or the geometry of the cobblestones. Anyway, artists, we're all just looking and borrowing and transforming the world in our own way.