Portret van een vrouw 1903 - 1940

This is ‘Portret van een Vrouw’ by Jan van Roon, and it’s a delicate, almost ghostly image. Looking at it now, it feels like it was created with light itself. I can imagine Jan van Roon, back then, carefully layering the image, building it up with the faintest sepia tones. It's a dance between visibility and erasure, isn't it? The woman’s face emerges from the background, solid and yet so fragile. I wonder what he was thinking about as he made this? There’s something so tender and intimate about this portrait, a quiet understanding. Her gaze feels direct, but softened somehow. It reminds me a little of those early portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron, where the imperfections and the soft focus only add to the emotional punch. Like they were both trying to capture something beyond the surface. And that's the thing about painting, isn’t it? It’s never just about what you see, but how you see it.