Duke of York's Column 1905

Joseph Pennell made this print of the Duke of York's Column. It's all delicate lines, light and airy, like he barely touched the paper. I can imagine him, squinting in the London sun, etching the scene onto a plate, trying to capture the feeling of the place. I wonder what he was thinking about as he worked? Maybe he was trying to capture the grandeur of the column, or maybe he was just interested in the way the light hit the trees. There's something kind of romantic about the whole thing. I love how the lines almost disappear in places, like a memory fading. The people in the foreground are just suggestions, ghosts of passersby. It's a reminder that everything is always changing, always in flux. Even something as solid as a stone column. Pennell was part of a whole tradition of printmakers and painters capturing urban life, and you can see his work in conversation with theirs, each adding their own little piece to the story.