Staande vrouw met hoofddoek 1875 - 1934

Here, at the Rijksmuseum is Isaac Israels’ quick sketch of a woman in a headscarf, probably made with graphite. The hurried quality of the marks, they show the artist working fast, trying to capture the fleeting essence of his sitter. Maybe Israels was intrigued by the play of light and shadow on the woman's face, or the way the fabric draped around her head. He probably didn't have much time, so he had to work intuitively, making decisions on the fly about where to place each line and how much detail to include. I imagine him squinting at the model, then back at the page, trying to translate what he saw into a language of lines and shading. I can almost feel his hand moving across the page, driven by a mixture of observation, instinct, and maybe a bit of nervous energy. This reminds me of other sketch artists like Manet or Degas who, also captured everyday life with a similar immediacy. And that’s the thing about drawing, isn't it? It’s all about capturing a moment, and exchanging it with other artists to keep the conversation going.