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A Span of the Battersea Bridge
A Span of the Battersea Bridge
A Span of the Battersea Bridge

A Span of the Battersea Bridge

Maker (British (English), 1857-1945)
Date1899
MediumAquatint on wove paper
DimensionsPlate: 7-7/16 x 11-5/8 in. (18.9 x 29.5 cm)
Sheet: 11-3/4 x 16-1/2 in. (29.8 x 41.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Brenda F. and Joseph V. Smith
Object number2007.85
Object TypePrints
On View
Not on view
Not only did Frank Short rediscover mezzotint, but he also revitalized the technique of aquatint, where fine particles of acid-resistant resin adhere to the plate to produce soft tonal effects. A Span of the Battersea Bridge, as Short noted, contrasts the light mottling effect of a "spirit-ground"—the resin dissolved in alcohol and left thinly behind after it is poured over the plate—"to give an air of transparency as opposed to the dust-ground for the bridge, which is more sodden in sympathy with the old timbers." The result is less an idyllic riverside pastoral than an image of industrial decay. Short’s favorite subjects, described by a contemporary art historian, were "factory chimneys, stunted, smoke-dried trees, heavy skies, dreary level water, along which barges make their monotonous way": the ingredients of an ex-urban industrial wasteland, for which this view of the stark, sodden timbers of the Battersea railway bridge can stand as bleak emblem.