Hert 1840 - 1880

Curator: Here we have "Hert," a drawing by Johannes Tavenraat, created sometime between 1840 and 1880. It's currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. What’s your first take? Editor: Stark and somewhat melancholic, isn't it? The minimal ink on the page, that isolated deer... it speaks to a sense of vulnerability and exposure. Curator: I see it as a study in symbolism. Deer, or stags specifically, have represented everything from virility and leadership to gentleness and humility across various cultures and time periods. Editor: True, but I immediately consider how the animal is rendered. Notice the quick, almost nervous strokes of the pen. It feels unfinished, like a captured moment of instability in the natural world. The deer itself, positioned awkwardly, seems out of place and anxious. Curator: I would describe that approach differently; this is a personal sketch that is free and intuitive rather than necessarily being an allegorical figure for instability and anxiety, especially as sketchbook works have to be seen through the prism of experimentation, storyboard, or idea generation sketches. Editor: Even viewed as experimentation, isn't that rawness significant? How it reflects a societal shift occurring even within realist art toward capturing authentic moments, revealing both the beauty and brutality of the human-animal relationship and of how quickly nature and symbols are deployed and replaced in modernity. Curator: A worthwhile consideration, indeed. For me, the power of Tavenraat's "Hert" resides in its deliberate invocation of art historical, literary and cultural allusions while capturing a glimpse into Tavenraat's natural curiosity about rendering a traditionally totemic figure. Editor: And that juxtaposition, the tension between the idealized and the real, offers us space to contemplate these changing narratives. Curator: A reminder that even simple sketches can hold complex social meaning and cultural symbolism!