Studieblad met takken en stillevens 1605 - 1678

Paul de Vos produced this sketch, entitled 'Studieblad met takken en stillevens', which translates to 'Study Sheet with Branches and Still Lifes', sometime in the 17th century. Looking at this drawing, we can see a window into the artist's process, his preparations for larger works. De Vos was Flemish, so he worked in a world defined by the guilds. Artists were trained in workshops, learning by copying and by studying the world around them. Drawings like this one give us a direct connection to that world. We see De Vos working out his ideas, perhaps thinking through how to arrange objects in a still life or how to depict the texture of leaves. These studies would have been crucial for an artist working in a society where skill and craft were highly valued. Understanding the role of institutions like the guilds, and understanding the economic structures of seventeenth-century Flanders, helps us understand this drawing as a product of its time, a small piece of a larger social puzzle.