Gezicht op het Piazza dei Signori before 1913

Maria van Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen made this etching, Gezicht op het Piazza dei Signori, using fine lines to create a view through an archway into a busy piazza. It's all in monochrome, so imagine the artist, maybe sketching the scene first, then translating it onto the plate with acid, finding a way to bring this place to life with just the touch of a needle. I get the sense of a kind of searching here, as the artist tries to fix the transience of a street scene. There are people with umbrellas, going about their daily lives, frozen in time. It makes you wonder, what was she trying to capture? The light? The mood? Or just the simple pleasure of looking? I find myself thinking about other artists - Piranesi, Canaletto - all those who’ve tried to capture the spirit of a place. It’s like we’re all just part of this long conversation, echoing each other across time. And that's the beauty of art: it's never really finished. There's always another way of seeing.