Schetsblad met koppen en herten 1862

This 'Sketch sheet with heads and deer', now at the Rijksmuseum, was made in 1862 by Johannes Tavenraat, using pen in brown ink. The sheet presents a collection of studies, predominantly of human heads and deer, arranged without a clear compositional hierarchy. The use of brown ink lends a certain warmth, almost a nostalgic quality, to the rapid strokes that define each figure. Tavenraat’s use of line is particularly striking; it varies from quick, almost frantic scribbles to more deliberate, contour-defining marks. The absence of shading places emphasis on the form itself. These formal choices invite us to consider the nature of sketching as a process—a way of capturing fleeting observations. The work does not offer a singular, fixed image but rather a collection of potential forms, destabilizing traditional notions of completion.