Portret van vijf maanden oude baby Annie Jurriaanse 1903

Jan Toorop sketched this portrait of five-month-old Annie Jurriaanse with pencil on paper. Just look at the speed of that line! There's an immediacy, a freshness to the sketch, as if Toorop dashed it off in a moment of inspiration, a little bit like a parent quickly trying to capture the fleeting magic of their child's infancy. I can imagine him thinking: how do I capture the essence of this transient moment? How do I show the way the light catches on her delicate features? The marks are so full of feeling. The soft hatching creates a sense of volume, while the darker lines bring definition to her form. The quick, almost scribbled lines of her frilly collar and the pillow contrast with the careful attention given to her face. This act of sketching—this conversation with the world through line—is a reminder of the ongoing exchange between artists across time, each inspiring and building upon the creativity of those who came before.