Portret van een vrouw met een blouse met opstaande kraag 1890 - 1946

Here is a sketch by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, a portrait of a woman with an upturned collar, made in pencil on paper. I can imagine him there with his pencil, trying to capture the likeness, the very essence, of this woman. Do you think she's someone he knew, or just a model? Look at the sharp lines around her face, and the softer scribbles that suggest the frills of her blouse. The marks almost feel like whispers, quick decisions made in charcoal, each one building up the form. I wonder if Vreedenburgh was thinking about the great portrait artists of the past as he worked? Maybe he was trying to capture something timeless, something that would speak to people long after both he and his model were gone. It’s just a sketch, but it’s full of life, isn’t it? We painters, we’re all in conversation with each other, across time and space.