House of Cervantés, Madrid c. 1903

Joseph Pennell made this drawing of Cervantes' house in Madrid with graphite on paper. Just look at the texture conjured up from a seemingly simple medium. I can imagine Pennell standing on the street, squinting in the Spanish sun, quickly capturing the facade. I love how the dark doorway contrasts with the sunlit stone, inviting us into the space where Cervantes lived and died. It is so simple, but the artist has captured something about the gravity of the place. You can see the marks where he has built up the shadows, and you feel he’s trying to capture something beyond just the architecture. It's like he's trying to sketch a feeling. Pennell, like many artists, was fascinated by place. He made lots of images of buildings, and maybe he wanted to be part of the artistic conversation through his drawings. We can definitely see how this work sits alongside a whole history of artists engaging with, and documenting, the world around them.