The Law Courts 1905

This is Joseph Pennell's etching "The Law Courts" at the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s a scene built up from a whole mess of delicate lines, like he's spun the image from silvery thread. I get the feeling that Pennell was out there in the street, bundled up against the London chill, squinting through the fog to capture the grandiose architecture. The sheer scale of the buildings, stretching upward with their spires and gothic details – it's like he wanted to make you feel small. He’s not just copying what he sees, it’s more like he's thinking about how all those details make the building feel. I wonder if he was trying to make sense of his own place in such a huge, indifferent world. Maybe it’s a bit like when you’re painting and you suddenly realize you’re not just pushing paint around, but trying to pin down something elusive about being alive. Other artists, like Piranesi, have also tried to capture buildings and places with the same intensity.