Studie af N.F.S Grundtvig efter Vilh. Bissens kopi (1909) af H.W. Bissens buste (1847). Kopien på Frederiksborg 1930 - 1938

Here’s a page from a sketchbook, a study of N.F.S. Grundtvig by Niels Larsen Stevns, made in 1909. The scratching of pen on paper! I can almost hear it, can’t you? Think of the artist, Stevns, bent over this very page, trying to capture something of the essence of Grundtvig, not from life, but from a copy of a bust. It’s like a game of telephone, each artist interpreting the one before. Look at the looping lines, how they build up to create form. There’s a real energy here, a sense of the artist working quickly, trying to get down what he sees before it disappears. As a painter, I know that dance so well. It's a constant struggle to capture the fleeting moment, the ephemeral feeling. Each mark is a decision, a response to what came before. We see a connection across time to the sculptor H.W. Bissen, whose work inspired this sketch. Artists are always looking, learning, and riffing off each other, aren't they?