Studieblad met gebouwen c. 1828 - 1897

Curator: This is "Studieblad met gebouwen," or "Study Sheet with Buildings," a collection of architectural sketches attributed to Adrianus Eversen, likely dating from sometime between 1828 and 1897. Editor: It has this beautiful ethereal quality. Each building seems almost like a memory fading at the edges, some dark and distinct, others just barely there. Curator: Indeed. The artist used ink and pencil on paper, giving it a wonderfully immediate, almost sketchbook-like feel, despite likely being a carefully considered study. What sort of feeling comes across for you from the architectural images represented here? Editor: The buildings call up that bittersweet longing you get when leafing through old photo albums. I immediately think of stability, permanence… stone. Yet these stone monuments look so fragile and vulnerable, caught in the amber of a bygone era, because of the wispy lines of the drawing, so light in appearance. Curator: It is interesting that you get a sensation of fragility. Many of these structures seem quite solid to me, despite being drawings, which can give us insight to the cultural importance placed on buildings like the medieval style one and windows sketched here. Those windows could be associated with divine light, especially set against darkness that shows faith through architecture. The architectural construction indicates that stability in mind as well. Editor: Yes, absolutely. It is an internal contradiction. The symbol of stone is stable and secure. Yet, looking closely at this drawing of several sketches that might not be related, everything here seems ephemeral as dreams because of how the sketches all fade off without finishing the line to make the whole object concrete, so you feel like they might dissolve before your eyes. The overall scene reminds me of older images depicting vanity, which might have nothing to do with it but my own internal state. Curator: It might not be so off base to use associations related to "vanity" here. I wonder if, beyond specific buildings, these could have been included on the study sheet to symbolize pride, tradition, or cultural heritage. Editor: So much of architecture in our shared memory deals with themes of power, memory, and ultimately, perhaps the illusion of permanence. Curator: Well, thinking about Eversen’s world when creating these studies on paper and his focus on structures and the ideas surrounding them gives a whole new aspect to urban sketching, doesn't it? Editor: Yes, seeing his initial impression, frozen, and then allowing our own personal history and insights to dance with it is truly lovely.