Hert 1840 - 1880

Curator: Welcome! Here we have "Hert," a pen and ink drawing by Johannes Tavenraat, likely created sometime between 1840 and 1880. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. What's your take on it? Editor: The starkness hits me first. The almost violent scratch of the pen capturing this creature mid-leap…it feels frantic. Curator: Yes, that raw quality speaks to the immediacy of the medium. Tavenraat uses ink and pen with what appears to be quick, economical strokes, likely employing a quill to achieve varied line widths. Notice the deep, concentrated application of ink toward the deer's hindquarters, contrasted with the lighter etching outlining the musculature. Editor: The lack of color throws the form into sharp relief. All the lines...like nerves exposed. It really emphasizes the physical exertion, the raw muscle power in its flight. Is it fleeing something, I wonder? Curator: Perhaps. It embodies the Romantic ideal of depicting nature’s untamed power and fragility. Think about the paper it's drawn on, the likely sources for ink at that time... these materials themselves were of the natural world being depicted, and their relative cost would shape access. Editor: A little morbid, perhaps, but my first thought goes straight to the venison, the hunter's triumph displayed... That darker wash around its haunches almost feels like…bruising? Maybe that’s a bit much. Curator: Well, it introduces the economic reality behind our romantic views, doesn't it? It brings out an uncomfortable element to contemplate alongside aesthetics and emotion. Editor: It’s unsettling to move from romanticized form to imagining the realities of the hunt, of landscape's resources and what they are worth in this historical setting, or the cost paid. Curator: Indeed, Tavenraat captures a singular animal but within a structure of labor, availability and consumption that we, too, still inhabit today. Thanks for the turn toward necessary realities. Editor: Thank you. It’s helpful to consider that beauty is more complicated than we sometimes allow ourselves to imagine.