Gondel bij een brug over een kanaal in Venetië c. 1914 - 1919

Willem Witsen made this print, Gondel bij een brug over een kanaal in Venetië, with etching. It's all in shades of grey, and when I look at the scene, I can imagine the process that he would have gone through to make this. The texture here is subtle, built up from tiny lines and cross-hatching. Look at the way he suggests the reflections in the water, or the crumbling facades of the buildings. It's like he's slowly building up the image, bit by bit. I like the way that the shadows around the arched doorway on the right are barely there, just a slight darkening of the paper. It makes me think about how much atmosphere you can create with so little. It's easy to see Whistler or maybe Meryon in this. It's a reminder that art is a conversation across time, with artists constantly responding to and reinterpreting each other's ideas. Witsen is not just depicting a scene, but offering a way of seeing, a mood, an atmosphere.