The Dark Canal, Venice 1908

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan made this etching of a Venetian canal, using dark lines to bring this evocative image to life. I love how the composition sucks you into the dark heart of the canal. I can almost feel him there, the artist, wrestling with the plate, coaxing out this vision of Venice. It’s a place of shadows, where buildings loom on either side, their details smudged and blurred, and the only relief from the gloom is the pale sky. It's not about precision but about feeling. Look at the surface, how the ink clings to the paper, creating a tactile sense of depth. Notice the scratchy lines of the buildings. It's as though McLaughlan wants to conjure up the layers of history embedded in the city's stones. The Dark Canal reminds me of Piranesi’s dark, gothic architectural fantasies. And it’s part of that long tradition of artists being fascinated by Venice and its mysterious beauty.