Boerderij met erf 1834 - 1911

Jozef Israëls created this drawing of a farm with its yard using graphite. The composition immediately strikes us with its delicate use of line and subtle shading. The artist captures a rural scene with a focus on geometric forms. The sketch centers around the farmhouse, a rectangular structure with a sharply angled roof, situated behind a figure carrying what appears to be a farming tool. The linear quality is evident in the way Israëls defines the edges of the buildings, the trees in the background, and even the lone cow in the foreground. The artist uses the structural arrangement of the scene to create a sense of depth and space, employing a semiotic language of rural life where each element—the house, the farmer, the cow—contributes to a larger narrative about labor, land, and existence. This drawing, with its stark lines, invites us to see how form and structure articulate a certain vision of rural simplicity.