Tuin in Verona 1903 - 1932

Adriaan van 't Hoff made this etching, a 'Tuin in Verona,' sometime between 1910 and 1939. The mark-making here feels thoughtful, considered, and searching – a bit like drawing with shadows. There’s a real push and pull between the architecture and nature. The trees are like dark, watchful figures framing a sun-drenched arcade in the distance. You can see the individual lines that make up the trunks of the trees, almost scribbled. It's as if the artist is thinking through their form as he works, not just copying what he sees, but actively building an idea of a tree. Look at the way van 't Hoff has rendered the surface of the water in the fountain; a mass of interwoven marks that conjure movement and stillness. It reminds me a little of Piranesi, an earlier master of etching, whose architectural fantasies also evoked a sense of timeless melancholy. What do you think?