Vrouw met een hoed Possibly 1870 - 1877

Curator: Alright, let’s turn our attention to this pencil drawing of a woman wearing a hat by Cornelis Springer, possibly dating back to the 1870s. Editor: Mmm, instantly I feel this... elegiac quality? Like a half-remembered dream, all soft focus and fading light. She seems both present and remote, don’t you think? Curator: Indeed, the lightness of the pencil on paper does contribute to that hazy, dreamlike mood. But it also might point to this work being a study, maybe a preparatory sketch. The drawing is of a figure—clearly a woman as the artwork's name "Vrouw met een hoed" reveals—however, the artist focuses mainly on depicting the fabrics' drape, a technique we also observe in many portraits. Editor: Precisely! And look at the hat, too. Millinery often stood as shorthand for social standing, or even certain personality types, back then. Her hat suggests a kind of quiet confidence, maybe a woman of means. Is she stepping out, walking in, or maybe caught in transition? Curator: Or perhaps we are seeing here more universal ideas related to modesty: throughout the centuries, hats and head coverings also signal respectability, a demure gesture towards religious observance, and personal dignity... It would be very appropriate for the Netherlands. Editor: Ah, a dance of discretion! Even her obscured face… It becomes, paradoxically, a signifier. A kind of archetypal woman emerging from a whisper. What about that barely-there hand? It stretches out as if testing the reality of the very world we are now both standing in. Curator: I see your point; it definitely softens the gaze. So we have here this interesting dichotomy: this figure is somewhat tangible given the relatively strong pencil strokes depicting the clothes, while it also melts, almost imperceptibly, in the plain, undefined background... almost a ghost from the past haunting the gallery space! Editor: Haunting is absolutely the right word for it! An elegant ghost, mind you, but a potent reminder of time’s persistent elusiveness, still speaking volumes after a century or so. I love the conversation that started between the author of the artwork and now us two... almost the ghost of dialogue itself!