Charles François Daubigny

From a series of etchings devoted to Daubigny’s own travels, this print show the darkness of night broken by a lantern. On the left, diagonal lines and crosshatching suggest the light’s spread as two figures search for a place to stay. At right, their lantern illuminates an inn’s dim interior.

To suggest rays of light, Daubigny etched a dense network of lines deeply into the plate and printed it with high pressure, creating an embossed effect. In some areas, such as the shadow at lower right, he pressed fabric into the ground, creating grainy areas where ink would pool, resulting in an underlying gray tone.