Berglandschap, vermoedelijk in de Pyreneeën 1904

This photogravure of a mountain landscape, possibly in the Pyrenees, was made by Delizy sometime in the past. The sepia tones are achieved, not by applying pigment, but by a chemical reaction, imbuing it with an uncanny realness that is still somehow dreamlike, or like a memory. The textures are so subtle it's hard to tell what kind of tools may have been used to make it. Instead, the emphasis is on light and shadow to create a sense of depth, recession, and distance. The image itself is quite small, but within its dimensions there is an enormous sense of space. Take a look at the way the fog hangs in the valleys and how the peaks gradually fade into the distance. It reminds me of the Hudson River School painters from the nineteenth century, who likewise had a sense of awe about the sublime majesty of nature. But this is a photograph, so in a way, it's real. Or is it?