Regendag te Venetië 1920

Philip Zilcken made this etching, Regendag te Venetië, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Look at the way he’s built the image from a network of tiny marks. It feels like he's trying to capture not just the look but the feeling of a rainy day. See how the etched lines create a shimmering effect on the water. The way the light bounces around, almost dissolving the buildings into the lagoon. It’s as if he’s asking, what does it mean to see something, and how can we translate that into a physical language? The quiet mood reminds me of Whistler, who also had a knack for turning simple scenes into atmospheric experiences. But where Whistler is all about tonal harmony, Zilcken seems more interested in the raw texture of the etched line. Ultimately, it's this embrace of process, of letting the medium speak, that makes the piece so compelling, like a conversation between artist and material.