It's Lanes of Palaces Terraced Round the Slope, Toledo c. 1903

Joseph Pennell made this lithograph of Toledo sometime in his career. He's using the lithographic stone here as a kind of drawing board, scraping and hatching to create a tonal view of the city. There’s a real sense of atmosphere, you know? Pennell’s not after a photographic likeness. Instead, it feels like he’s trying to capture the feeling of light on stone, the weight of history pressing down. Look at the dark, almost velvety blacks of the foreground wall against the lighter, shimmering buildings in the distance. The buildings in the back look like you could reach out and crumble them in your hand. It reminds me of Whistler, actually, another American artist who was really into printmaking and capturing fleeting moments. But where Whistler is all about subtlety, Pennell’s got a bit more grit, a bit more drama. It’s like he’s saying, “Here’s Toledo, a city that’s seen it all, and I’m going to show you its soul."