Decoratief kader met de spreuk 'alle schijn is geen zijn' 1884 - 1952

This drawing was made by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries, we don't know exactly when or for what purpose, but it's made with pen and watercolour. You can see the grid which the artist would have used to create this piece. It's a reminder that this is artifice and design, it's not organic and free. The drawing is about appearance versus reality, and the artist is using appearance, the look of the grid, the balanced symmetry, to make the point that things aren't always what they seem. There's such care in the geometry, the repeating diamonds, the simple colour scheme. But if you look closely at the painted parts, they are so delicate, it almost looks like the paint has bled in places, so the lines aren't perfectly crisp. For me, this connects it to the tradition of illuminated manuscripts, where there's also an incredible eye for detail and patternmaking, but, at the same time, the human hand is present in every little imperfection. It's like the artist is saying, "I'm here, this is me".