The Hospice of Saint John, Toledo c. 1903

Joseph Pennell made "The Hospice of Saint John, Toledo" using etching, and it's all about process. The way the lines build up, like a dance of dark and light, that's what grabs me. Look at the sky – those scribbled, almost frantic lines. It’s like he's trying to capture a feeling more than a literal sky, which is the key to the image as a whole. You can almost feel the weight of the clouds, the way they press down on the city. And then your eye travels down to the buildings and you notice how the lines get more detailed but there's an equal attention to the architecture. It’s all about the contrast between the dense, chaotic marks in the sky and the more precise lines that define the city. It reminds me a bit of Piranesi, with that same sense of monumental scale and intricate detail. But Pennell brings something different, a kind of raw, emotional energy. It's like he's not just showing us a place, but also a state of mind. And that’s what makes it stick with you.