Lincoln's Inn Fields 1905

Joseph Pennell's 1903 etching of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, captures a dance of light and shadow, doesn’t it? I’m imagining Pennell outdoors, squinting, his hand moving, guided by what he sees, feels. The sepia tones create this hazy, dreamlike quality, like peering through time itself. He's using these intricate lines to build up the image, almost like he’s knitting the scene together. You can sense the weight of those grand trees, the solid architecture in the background, all rendered with such delicate strokes. I wonder if he was thinking about Whistler, another American artist in London, who also loved capturing the city's misty atmosphere? There's a shared interest in finding beauty in the everyday, in seeing poetry in the urban landscape. It's this connection, this visual conversation across time, that makes art so endlessly fascinating.