Niels Larsen Stevns made these crow studies with a pencil, we don’t know when, but it was probably in a sketchbook like the one we see here. It’s so immediate, right? You get a sense of the artist trying to capture the essence of the crow with quick, scribbled lines. I can almost feel his hand moving across the page, trying to keep up with the bird's movements. I love how the various marks create a sense of depth and texture. The lines aren’t precious, they’re direct. Look at the way he suggests the form of the wings through dense hatching and how some of the marks look as if they have been blended with a finger. It's like a visual shorthand, capturing the bird's weight and volume with remarkable economy. These sketches remind me of Delacroix's animal studies. Both artists share a fascination with capturing the vitality and energy of the natural world. They remind us that art is an ongoing conversation, a process of looking, feeling, and responding to the world around us.