De laatste zonnestralen, Benares Possibly 1915

This print, *De laatste zonnestralen, Benares*, was made by Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp, using a technique that allows for a world rendered in tone, not just line. It’s a reminder that art is as much about process as it is about the final image. The grainy texture of the etching gives the scene a soft, dreamlike quality, as if we’re seeing Benares through a haze of memory or imagination. Look at the way Nieuwenkamp uses tiny etched marks to build up the forms of the buildings and the landscape. Each mark is like a tiny vibration, and together they create a rich, shimmering surface. See how the light seems to catch on the edges of things, giving the whole scene a kind of ethereal glow. I am reminded of Piranesi, another master printmaker who understood the power of line and tone to evoke mood and atmosphere. But where Piranesi's prints are often grand and dramatic, Nieuwenkamp's is more intimate, more personal. It invites us to linger, to lose ourselves in the details, and to feel the warmth of those last rays of sun on our own skin.