Berglandschap met baai op Corsica 1922

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this landscape with a bay in Corsica, likely using etching techniques to create all those fine, intricate lines. The textures, oh, they’re something else! It’s like Schelfhout is trying to capture not just what Corsica looks like, but what it *feels* like. You've got the prickly agaves in the foreground, rendered with such detail you can almost feel them. Then, your eye travels up to that stepped hill, with its horizontal marks, each one like a tiny terrace or a layer of history. And the way he uses light? It’s not just about illumination; it’s about mood. The dark, dense trees framing the scene against the lighter tones of the sea—it’s like a stage set. I think about artists like Hercules Segers, whose landscapes also have this kind of theatrical, almost dreamlike quality. They both remind us that art is about making a world, not just copying one.