Ontwerp voor een penning (?) van gips met drie herten 1876 - 1947

Lambertus Zijl made this plaster design for a medal, featuring three herts. It’s difficult to pin down the making process but there is something so wonderful about the way Zijl seems to build these herts out of plaster, like a potter coiling ropes of clay, one on top of the other. The texture! Up close, the surface is a mass of lumps and gashes. The incisions become the musculature of the animals, giving a real sense of the herts’ physicality. See how the leg of the central hert extends down from the body of the animal to meet the base of the disc? It's easy to imagine Rodin working in a similar way, building up form and volume through the application of more and more material. Plaster always feels so immediate, the design so clear. These designs remain so full of possibilities; this is how art remains in conversation.