Portico San Martín, Segovia c. 1903

Joseph Pennell made this lithograph, "Portico San Martín, Segovia," using a printing process dependent on a very particular material: lithographic limestone. The process relies on the natural incompatibility of grease and water. The artist draws on the stone with a greasy crayon, then the surface is treated so that the image attracts ink and the bare stone repels it. A print is then pulled. Pennell was a master printmaker, who made the most of the lithograph’s velvety blacks and soft gradations of tone. Notice how he coaxes a full range of effects from the medium, from the solid darkness of the foreground to the hazy distance, visible through the portico. Of course, this was also an industrial process; it depended on the large-scale extraction of limestone from quarries, and a print shop equipped with a heavy press. So, while the lithograph has an immediacy that feels like drawing, it is important to remember that it is the product of a complex process – and much labor besides.