Herdenkingszuil met het portret van Andries Lens in een medaillon 1821 - 1824

Curator: This pencil drawing, "Herdenkingszuil met het portret van Andries Lens in een medaillon," which translates to "Memorial Column with the portrait of Andries Lens in a medallion," created sometime between 1821 and 1824 by Guillaume Philidor Van den Burggraaff, definitely strikes a neoclassical chord, doesn't it? Editor: It absolutely does. The allegorical scene gives the overall impression of the high seriousness usually accorded to important men and historic occasions, but the humble use of pencil for a memorial seems slightly contradictory at first glance, don't you think? It's so fragile, the opposite of bronze or marble! Curator: It’s true that the medium contrasts with the monumentality it aims to convey. But that delicacy—that sense of something sketched, provisional—softens the idealized imagery and gives it an airy, dreamlike quality. And think of all the pencils broken and graphite smudged to create just the right illusion. Editor: That's interesting, focusing on labor as it relates to material value. I find the starkness of the pencil marks very moving in that they highlight the drawing's status as something created—by the artist's hand, not cast, assembled, or printed. We can easily imagine the labor and pressure involved in layering each shade of gray on white. I also notice at the base of the memorial, laid on the ground as an offering or symbolic grave good is a painter's palette and maulstick. Curator: Yes, those elements certainly solidify Lens's identity as an artist and bring a touching personal element into the neoclassical scene. There’s a tender sadness infusing this work, as if Van den Burggraaff mourned the transition from the vital practice of art to the silence of memorial. I almost feel I can sense the ghost of Lens’s workshop—smells of oil paints and varnish, maybe—hovering just beyond the borders of the sheet. Editor: Well said. Looking closely at it and thinking about the process has opened up its meaning in a really interesting way. Thank you! Curator: To you as well!