The Great Gate, Lincoln's Inn 1905

Joseph Pennell made this etching of The Great Gate, Lincoln's Inn in 1903, using delicate lines to build up tones and textures. The lines swarm to create a building, not quite solid, more a ghostly apparition of stone and history. Up close, the surface dances with the myriad marks that describe the facade. Look at how the stones seem to shimmer with a life of their own. Some lines are confident, others hesitant, and the overall effect is a kind of vibrating energy, as if the gate itself is breathing. Pennell isn’t just showing us a building; he’s capturing a feeling, a mood, an atmosphere. The darks and lights create depth and drama, pulling you into the scene, into the past. Pennell was an American expatriate, and his prints of European cities recall the work of Whistler, who similarly sought to capture the fleeting beauty of urban life. But while Whistler was interested in atmosphere, Pennell seems drawn to the density of form. He wanted to show you the thing itself, not as an absolute object, but something flickering and fugitive.