Twee stadsgezichten 1696

Hendrick van Beaumont made these two city views with pen and ink, likely working directly from observation. The immediacy of the drawing gives it a special character. Beaumont wasn't trying to produce a highly finished artwork, but instead using the graphic arts as a quick way to capture a sense of place. The varying width of lines, and the hatching to create tonal variation, give a sense of the artist's hand moving across the paper, documenting the scenery. The quick and relatively effortless nature of pen and ink as a medium allowed Beaumont to efficiently record these views, perhaps as studies for larger works or simply as personal mementos. Drawings like these remind us that not all art is about grand statements; sometimes, it's about the simple pleasure of seeing and recording the world around us. In this case, the contrast between the graphic speed of the artist's hand and the relatively slow craft and labor that goes into the construction of buildings is quite evocative.