Ontwerp voor een bord ter gelegenheid van het zilveren jubileum van koningin Wilhelmina 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this ink design for a plate celebrating Queen Wilhelmina's silver jubilee. I can imagine him sketching it out, maybe in a few tries, those bold, symmetrical lines radiating from the center. It’s interesting to think about what he was going for, right? The guy had to be thinking about tradition but also trying to make something fresh. It's like he's saying, "Here's to you, Queen, and here's to a modern spin on things." I wonder if, when he made the first stroke, he knew it would look like this. Did the design just come out of him, or did he really labor over it? I love the way the edges of the design just kind of fade into the paper. That's the kind of stuff other painters and I notice—how the thing was made. Anyway, painters are always riffing off each other across time. It’s a big conversation, and we're all just trying to add our two cents, you know?