The Fish Market, Venice - No. 2 1915

Muirhead Bone’s etching, The Fish Market, Venice, is a symphony of blacks, greys, and whites, hatched to conjure an Italian Renaissance interior busy with the commerce of daily life. I can imagine Bone’s fascination with the market's architecture, the rhythmic parade of columns receding into space, and the drama of light filtering through the arched windows. He’s there, moving his hand across the plate, trying to capture the scene's energy. His lines are full of intent, each mark registering a specific detail of the architecture or human activity. There’s a real dance happening here. I wonder if Bone thought about Piranesi’s prints of Rome when he made this? Both artists are so great at conjuring space, light, and atmosphere using the bare minimum. Ultimately, this piece is about light and dark, and how we can see the world through contrasting tones.