Untitled

J. André Smith frames a simple house against the looming ruins of an old fortress, using dense hatching and rays of light to give the hillside a sense of drama and age. Dark-toned etching of a ruined stone fortress with a tall square tower rising at center. In front of the ruins stands a two-story gabled house with a sloping shed roof. Radiating lines in the sky create a glow behind the tower. Rounded trees, rooftops and furrowed fields fill the foreground, with a winding road leading back toward the ruins at right. The artist's pencil signature appears below the image.

In this print, a modest gabled house against a towering, crumbling walls of a ruined fortress. Light seems to burst from behind the ruins, sending rays across a darkened sky. In the foreground, rooftops, rounded trees, and furrowed fields curve and fold into one another, leading the eye up a winding road toward the tower. Smith builds the scene from dense hatching and simplified, almost sculptural forms, and the deep plate tone gives the whole print a dark, moody atmosphere.