Huizen aan de voet van een berg 1806 - 1872

Jannes Theodorus Bik made this pencil drawing of houses at the foot of a mountain sometime in the first half of the 19th century. The modest scale and materials here are part of the point. Pencil, like charcoal, chalk, and pen and ink, is a fundamental tool of artistic expression; these are the media that artists use most often when just thinking through ideas. The very directness of the medium is what gives this image its charm; you feel as though you're looking over the artist's shoulder as he captured the scene before him. Drawings like this were often studies for other works, a way of quickly taking visual notes that could be used to compose paintings or prints. They show us the most intimate side of art making, a direct connection between the artist's hand, eye, and the world. It reminds us that everything we see in a museum, no matter how grand, began with humble acts of looking and making.