Voorstudie voor een triptiek met de kinderen Paul, Bessy en Arthur Tutein Nolthenius c. 1894

Editor: Here we have Antoon Derkinderen's "Voorstudie voor een triptiek met de kinderen Paul, Bessy en Arthur Tutein Nolthenius," a pencil drawing on paper, from around 1894. It's so faint, almost ghostly. What's striking to me is how incomplete it feels, a series of fleeting impressions. What do you see in it? Curator: Ghosts is the perfect word for it. The fleeting nature of childhood itself, maybe? It's a study, yes, so inherently incomplete. But look at the way he's captured not just likeness, but a feeling of quiet domesticity, wouldn't you say? A kind of... innocent vulnerability. It's raw, personal. What triptych was Derkinderen aiming for here? What was it meant to convey? It’s the 'what could have been' that fascinates. Editor: It’s interesting that you pick up on vulnerability. I was initially drawn to the kind of awkwardness of the children's poses – especially in the central panel. It doesn't feel staged. Curator: Exactly! The 'un-posed-ness' is key. It reminds me of early photography, those moments where people hadn't quite mastered 'performing' for the camera. Except here, it's captured with such tenderness. What story might this incomplete work be whispering to us? Imagine it fully realized; the power those barely-there lines would hold. What story were the children enacting in that specific day of sketching? Editor: It makes me wonder if the incompleteness is what gives it so much of its power. If it were finished, perhaps it would be a conventional, if skilled, family portrait. This way, it's a bit of a riddle. Curator: A delicious riddle. You said it perfectly. Editor: Well, thanks to you, I see that the "riddle" holds more truth of the time and of the young subjects than a completed work might convey. Curator: And to think that an 'unfinished' artwork such as this may be viewed differently than intended is a humbling prospect. The journey, not the destination… and so on.