Gedicht op het portret van Dirk Langendijk door J.B. Scheffer after 1805

This is a poem on paper by G. van Nijmegen, written in 1805. It seems quite straightforward: ink applied to paper, likely with a quill. But let's think about what that really means. The paper itself, before it was inscribed, would have been made by hand, a labor-intensive process involving the pulping of rags, pressing, and drying. Even the ink would have been mixed carefully, following a recipe handed down through generations. And of course, Nijmegen would have received extensive training to achieve that beautiful cursive. The poem is a celebration of another artist, J.B. Scheffer, and his portrait of Dirk Langendijk. Consider, then, the layers of skill and labor involved: not only the poet's, but also the papermaker's, the ink-maker's, and the scribal tradition more generally. Seen this way, the poem becomes a testament to a whole network of creative production. It challenges the romantic idea of artistic genius, showing instead how art is always a collective endeavor.