Interieur van de Sint-Bavokerk te Haarlem 1866 - 1868

Curator: Here we have Isaac Gosschalk’s “Interior of the Sint-Bavokerk in Haarlem,” created between 1866 and 1868 using pencil on paper. What's your initial take? Editor: Well, right off the bat, it strikes me as… elusive. It feels like peering into a half-remembered dream of grand architecture, everything a whisper away from dissolving. Curator: That’s an interesting read. From a formalist view, look at how he's captured the building's structure. It’s an interesting exercise in perspective, note how the lines converge to imply a depth far beyond what the flat paper would suggest. Editor: True, there's a definite structure, almost brutally so in its precision. But it lacks the romantic grandeur you'd expect, doesn't it? It's as though he's stripping away the awe, leaving us with only the bare bones of faith or… civic pride? Curator: I see what you mean. It could almost be read as deconstructionist—avant la lettre! Yet there's beauty here, in the contrast of the stark, straight lines of the pillars against the curved arches of the vaulting. Gosschalk is playing with geometrical form, definitely. Editor: And there's a vulnerability to it as well. It's just a sketch, just pencil on paper, exposed in its raw state. I like the imperfection, the little wobbles in the lines that give the building life. Do you see a parallel there, perhaps, between the man-made striving towards divine perfection? Curator: Absolutely. And look closer—there’s a clear focus on verticality, reaching up. But the human element, if ever present, feels ghosted. He chose to focus not on human activity but rather the immensity of the sacred spaces built to contain them. Editor: So, this rendering turns out to be more about suggestion and possibility than concrete reality? A delicate balance, I'd say. Curator: Precisely! Gosschalk has allowed us a privileged glimpse into the underlying architecture and how we build both the structural and spiritual elements of our environment. Editor: All that from what I originally considered just a moody sketch! Goes to show you never can tell!