Salvador Zapata

Salvador Zapata made single-sheet prints in late-18th-century Spain that look like casual souvenirs rather than gallery pieces. One untitled print from around 1798–1805 shows a tiled courtyard corner in Madrid with a shadowed doorway and a single fig tree catching afternoon light. The sheet is small enough to hold with two fingertips, inked in a single color so that every scratch in the plate shows up like handwriting.

See how the wall bricks are uneven and the tree trunk humped; the print trades grandeur for the grain of ordinary life. Tap to open the next sheet in this bundle.