Arcadisch tafereel met een zittende en een staande vrouw 1763 - 1826

Abraham van Strij rendered this Arcadian scene with a seated and a standing woman using pen and brush in gray ink, on paper. The process of drawing with pen and ink is especially important here. Look closely, and you will see that the artist used carefully controlled lines and strokes, building up the composition by adding more and more detail. There’s a classical serenity to the subject – a landscape of leisure, with two women in idealized garb. Yet, the technique itself required many hours of labor. And if you look closely, you can see that this drawing is not just a finished work, but a study for something more ambitious. Van Strij has left a record of his process here, showing us his thinking on paper. By doing so, he collapses distinctions between fine art and craft.