Cumberland Gate, Regent's Park 1905

Joseph Pennell made this etching of Cumberland Gate, Regent's Park, with a needle scratching away at a metal plate, a bit like a drawing in reverse, with a powdery, granulated tone, and an almost ghostly, gray light. I imagine Pennell outside, sketching the gate over and over again, each time searching for the right line, the right shadow. Look at the way he’s captured the texture of the stone, how it catches the light. It's not just about representation, it's about feeling the weight and texture of the thing. You can feel the cool air and the echo of footsteps on the pavement. I think about Piranesi, his epic etchings of Rome, and how Pennell is part of that tradition, of artists who see the city as a stage, a place of drama and beauty. He is showing us how to see the city anew, finding the extraordinary in the everyday. It's this kind of looking that keeps art alive, this conversation across time.