Zeilboot bij een steiger c. 1803 - 1818

This is Zeilboot bij een steiger by Arnoldus Johannes Eymer, made with what appears to be pencil on paper. A quick gesture drawing, it gives us a glimpse into the artist's process and the basics of pictorial structure. The composition centers on a boat nestled against a pier. Look at the way the artist uses line – sketchy, broken, and seemingly tentative – to define forms. These lines don’t just describe; they suggest volume and texture with different weights. The use of hatching and cross-hatching, particularly around the trees behind the boat, creates depth. The work engages with fundamental questions about representation. Eymer uses a minimal set of marks to evoke a whole scene, challenging our perception to fill in the gaps. This piece asks us to consider how little is needed to conjure an image in the mind’s eye, to see beyond the mere arrangement of marks on a page to the world it evokes. This delicate balance between presence and absence, between the depicted and the implied, makes this simple sketch a powerful statement on the nature of seeing.