Portretstudies voor het (onvoltooide) schilderij van de Nederlandse rechtbank in Londen, juni 1942: Mr E.P.A. Akkerman-Weber. Possibly 1942 - 1946

Here, we see delicate pencil studies made in London in June 1942 by Anton Abraham van Anrooy. They’re portrait studies for an unrealized painting of the Dutch court. I love seeing this kind of preparatory drawing; you can see the artist circling around the subject, trying to pin it down. Like, what was it like for Van Anrooy to sit there sketching these people in the courtroom? He must have been trying to capture not just their likenesses but also something about the moment, the tension, the gravity of the legal process. Look at the way he renders the hands holding the pens – the way one hand seems to hover over the page, ready to strike, while the other grips the pen firmly, intent on capturing every detail. I find it interesting that the work is unfinished, and I wonder what we are missing. You get the feeling that these portraits capture an important moment. All paintings are essentially unfinished conversations that extend into our present.