Hond met de voorpoten op een leuning after 1915

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this work, titled ‘Dog with Front Paws on a Railing,’ using graphite on paper. I’m picturing de Vries rapidly sketching to capture the dog’s impatient energy, maybe on the street or in a park. I love how the lines are both searching and certain, suggesting the push-and-pull of observation. The sketch has a raw, immediate quality. Look at the tension in the dog’s stance, captured with just a few strokes. It reminds me of other animal sketches by artists like Delacroix, who also sought to convey the essence of their subjects. The beauty of a sketch lies in its incompleteness; it invites us to fill in the gaps, to imagine the dog’s texture, personality, and mood. These kinds of simple sketches remind me that all artists learn from those who came before.