Gezicht op Kasteel Doorwerth in Gelderland before 1915

This anonymous view of Kasteel Doorwerth in Gelderland, made with an unknown medium, is interesting because the artist is unknown, and it feels almost like a medieval print. It’s got that tonal quality, a kind of brown-ness like you get from old photographs. Looking closely, you can see that the artist has meticulously described the castle's architecture. The tones are built up with tiny, precise marks. The different textures on the brickwork are really captivating. It almost feels like it could be a photorealistic painting, if it were in colour. The lighting is beautiful, the way the sunlight hits the castle walls giving it a kind of solidity. It puts me in mind of Piranesi’s etchings of Rome, with their fantastic play of dark and light. Both artists had a kind of obsession with capturing the grandeur and scale of old buildings. And just like with Piranesi, the lack of explicit detail allows space for our imaginations to run wild, letting us build our own versions of the scene.