Gezicht op de trap naar de Ponte di Rialto in Venetië c. 1914 - 1919

Willem Witsen made this print, "View of the stairs to the Rialto Bridge in Venice", using etching. Oh, to be Witsen standing there watching people milling about on the steps! I imagine him sketching in a notebook, trying to capture the light as it bounces off the water. The dark arches of the building create a frame within a frame, drawing our eye to the gondola floating on the canal. Look at those tiny lines that make up the water. It reminds me of a cross-hatching exercise from art school. I wonder, did he stand in that spot for hours, patiently building up the image, line by painstaking line? It feels connected to Whistler’s nocturnes and other turn-of-the-century artists who were trying to capture fleeting moments of modern life. Painters, printmakers, all in conversation. One feeding another's ideas, each adding their own spin to the story.