Viooltje before 1893

Here we see an ink drawing of a pansy, known in Dutch as a "Viooltje", made by Willem Wenckebach. Born in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, Wenckebach was working in a colonial context and within a lineage of Dutch still life painting, often associated with the Golden Age. But while these earlier flower paintings were often colorful and abundant, here we see a single stem, rendered in stark black ink. The choice to represent the pansy in monochrome strips it of some of its traditional associations of beauty and delicacy. Instead we are given a clear depiction of its botanical structure. The pansy, also known as heartsease, was thought to be a love potion in medieval times. What does it mean to represent this potent symbol of love and memory in such a minimalist style? Wenckebach’s drawing makes us question how we project our desires and understanding onto the natural world.