Kerktoren 1890 - 1946

This is a sketch of a church tower by Cornelis Vreedenburgh. I can imagine Cornelis sitting with his sketchbook and a pencil, trying to get down the essence of this building. He's really simplified it, just capturing its height and the way it steps up towards the sky. I wonder if he was trying to understand how its form worked? The diagonal shading on the tower gives it some volume, some presence. Then at the bottom of the page, he's got these other little studies, maybe of details or other buildings nearby. It's like he's gathering information, thinking about what to do next. I love how informal it is, how immediate. It reminds me that drawing and painting are really a way of seeing, of trying to understand the world around us. It feels like a direct line to his thoughts.