Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this portrait of an unknown woman with a pencil, just the barest of means. I'm wondering if it was in a sketchbook, maybe on a train? I like the way the marks build up, and the tone emerges slowly from the hatching. I imagine Isaac really looking, looking at her hair, her cheek, the set of her mouth. It feels like he is really trying to see her, not just copy what's in front of him. The thing about portraits is the artist is never really painting the other person but also themself. I imagine Isaac trying to record the woman while understanding his own position, his own gaze. He's part of the story, too. Painters are always in conversation with each other across time, I think this drawing has some of the gestural quality of a Manet. Each artist learns from the past, picks up the baton, and runs with it.