Portret van Niels Simonsen 1845

Curator: Right, let’s turn our attention to this understated yet compelling work. We have before us a portrait, specifically, "Portret van Niels Simonsen," rendered in 1845 using pencil, created by Just Jean Christian Holm. Editor: My first impression? A ghost, almost! Ethereal and slightly melancholy. The subject’s gaze… it feels like a secret yearning. You can almost smell the ink, or is that just me? Curator: I think you're picking up on something. The piece exists so subtly—the paper, the graphite, it almost melts into nothing. There’s a frailty there, despite its subject. Look at the hatching and the careful modeling to describe Simonsen's face. He’s gazing just past us. Editor: A Romantic through and through, wasn't he? Though the "academic art" tag is curious... Pencil suggests practice, labor. Was Holm sketching many versions, refining? How was this circulated? For an intimate circle, or intended for wider distribution, consumption? Did he need this job? And for whom? Simonsen looks to have been a naval officer; maybe he provided some funding to Holm? Curator: Well, Romanticism certainly embraced the intense subjectivity you see in that sidelong glance, while the meticulous rendering—the careful shadowing around the cheekbones—shows off the Academic underpinnings, grounding fantasy in observation. As for labor…yes, so much is suggested but understated! Perhaps Simonsen wasn’t wealthy and he preferred the lower costs of this. Editor: And in some ways, perhaps pencil is even more unforgiving, every mark laid bare for the eye to witness. It is difficult to rework—there’s not a lot of room for experimentation when the materials leave traces so permanently! It’s funny how a portrait intends to celebrate life but it so quickly ossifies into these… questions, dilemmas, ambiguities. What does it mean, the pressure of each individual’s life? Curator: Exactly. It becomes this spectral document. These fleeting sketches can teach us just as much about life then as any oil painting, sometimes more so. Well, I have to say I am intrigued by this “haunted” object quality we found here. I am ready to look at it from another angle now. Editor: Agreed, these whisper-quiet works can truly shout.