Montelbaanstoren aan de Oudeschans te Amsterdam 1890 - 1946

Curator: What a charmingly brisk sketch! The rapidly hatched lines give it an almost urgent, fleeting quality. Editor: Indeed. This sketch, "Montelbaanstoren aan de Oudeschans te Amsterdam," attributed to Cornelis Vreedenburgh, and believed to have been made sometime between 1890 and 1946, offers an intimate glimpse into the artist’s working process. We find it here in the Rijksmuseum's collection. Curator: Look at the way he uses the minimal tonal variations achieved through differing pencil pressure! Notice how it captures the play of light and shadow so effectively, particularly on the tower's facade. Editor: Considering Vreedenburgh’s wider artistic focus on cityscapes and the urban environment, I find myself pondering the societal role of such structures in the shaping of Dutch identity. Towers, especially historically, signify power and act as landmarks that root identity in time and place. Curator: Perhaps. I’m more immediately struck by the dynamic composition. It's far from a conventional rendering; the slight tilting of the tower, the suggestions of surrounding buildings, even the blank space surrounding the rendering, contribute to the sketch’s overall energy. Editor: The materiality is quite intriguing too. This work on paper reveals so much of the initial vision and process of a practiced hand. This drawing may well have served as the preparatory stages for later more refined artwork that valorizes national symbols of urbanity. Curator: Right. What this ultimately reveals to me is how a great economy of line can say so very much, how the suggestive power of a sketch like this leaves space for the viewer’s own imagination to wander and to construct a version of the tower unique to them. Editor: Exactly. Considering how such works fit within art historical contexts underscores the intersectionality of art with political landscapes, a facet this quick piece indirectly offers.