Drie wandelaars in een landschap Possibly 1653 - 1658

Moses ter Borch made this sketch of three wanderers in 1653 using pen in brown, over graphite, on paper. The traveler, a universal figure, evokes a profound sense of human experience. Here, the wanderers are not merely moving through space; they embody the journey of life itself. The staff carried by the man in the front bears a connection with religious and mythological contexts: think of the staff of Moses, symbol of guidance and authority, or the caduceus of Hermes, the messenger. In this sketch, it seems to represent a more secular, everyday context of a life journey, a common motif that has permeated cultures across millennia. Like the figures in Caspar David Friedrich's landscapes, they are intermediaries between the familiar and the unknown. Through subconscious memory processes, the artist conveys a sense of melancholy, a desire to explore the unknown, and to capture, in just a few strokes, the timeless human condition, reflecting our eternal quest for meaning.