Abbéville

Charles John Watson made this etching, Abbéville, at some point during his lifetime. Look at how he's used a kind of shorthand to describe the buildings, a flurry of tiny marks that somehow cohere into walls and roofs. It’s like he’s not just depicting a place, but also showing us his thinking about it, the process of trying to capture it. The surface has this amazing quality, both delicate and robust. The etched lines have a slight graininess, giving the whole image a tangible, almost weathered feel. See how the cathedral looms in the background, rendered with such intricate detail that it feels both monumental and a little ghostly? The way Watson contrasts the solid architecture with the fleeting presence of the figures in the foreground reminds me of Piranesi, who was working a century earlier. There’s a lovely openness here, a sense that Watson is inviting us not just to look, but to wander, to get lost in the details, and to find our own way through the scene.