Portret van een onbekende man met baard c. 1915s - 1925s

Isaac Israels made this drawing of an unknown bearded man, using graphite on paper. The thing that strikes me about this sketch is how casually Israels approaches his subject. The marks are so loose, the lines just breezing across the page. It's like he's capturing the essence of this man in a hurry. But within that haste, there's a real sensitivity. Look at the way he suggests the shadow on the man’s face with just a few quick strokes, and the wild hatching above the figures head giving him a full head of hair. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly drawing, but with a more grounded, human touch. You get the sense that Israels was really looking, not just seeing, but feeling the weight of the man’s gaze. And that, to me, is what great art is all about.