Gedoofde kaarsen en leeuw (Nobel) geflankeerd door adelaars c. 1910

Bernard Willem Wierink made this drawing, 'Extinguished Candles and Lion (Nobel) Flanked by Eagles' with pen and brush in ink and watercolor. Imagine the artist, Wierink, hunched over the paper, carefully building up the image with layers of delicate strokes. He's drawing inspiration from heraldry and traditional emblems but he's also clearly having some fun! There's a real playful energy to it all. The lions, the eagles, and the candles - all so meticulously rendered, yet also slightly whimsical, like something out of a children's book. Those extinguished candles at the sides, with their wisps of smoke, are a classic memento mori, a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. What did the artist feel when drawing them? The tension between life and death? I feel like Wierink probably felt like other artists I know, wrestling with both tradition and a desire to break free, to make something uniquely his own. It's all part of one big, ongoing conversation about life, death, and everything in between, and how we can possibly make sense of any of it.