Sint-Pietersbasiliek before 1931

Etienne Bosch made this etching of St. Peter's Basilica and a bridge, somewhere, sometime, somehow. I’m thinking he probably stood on the banks of the river, squinting, trying to catch the light just so. The basilica looms large in the distance, solid, monumental, while the river in the foreground is all shimmering movement. The bridge seems to connect these two worlds, the earthly and the divine. There’s a dreamy quality, a soft focus that makes everything feel a bit hazy, like a memory. Bosch is part of this long tradition of artists capturing the light and atmosphere of places, it makes me think of Whistler's moody nocturnes. I imagine him, years later, looking back on this moment, this place, and trying to capture it, one more time.