Gezicht op Zierikzee 1910

Herman Heuff made this print of Zierikzee at an unknown date, but the lines feel permanent like they were always there. It's an etching so the lines are physically scored into the metal, but it is the brickwork archway framing the town that really speaks to me. Heuff’s cross hatching feels both solid and ethereal, like gazing through time itself. There’s so much detail, but it never feels overworked. It’s this sense of process that draws me in – you can see the artist thinking, feeling, and responding to the scene right there in the marks. I find myself wondering if Heuff was influenced by the etchings of Piranesi? Both artists share a love of architectural detail and a talent for creating atmospheric perspectives, although Heuff feels less dramatic, more intimate somehow, in his rendering of this town. In the end, the beauty of art lies in its endless capacity for reinvention and reinterpretation.