Hampstead Heath 1906

Muirhead Bone made this print of Hampstead Heath using etching, a process that involves a lot of waiting. Imagine the artist carefully coating a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground, then drawing into it with a sharp needle, exposing the metal beneath. He lowers the plate into an acid bath, the acid biting into the exposed lines, deepening them, and then he cleans it off. It's a kind of controlled alchemy, right? I wonder if he felt like a conductor leading an orchestra of tones and textures while he was making this. The light feels like a character in itself, filtering through the foliage, dappling the ground. There’s a real softness to it, a kind of gentle observation that reminds me of Whistler’s poetic studies of London. I imagine Bone was out there breathing in the fresh air as he worked, capturing a moment of stillness in the city.