Brief aan Frans Buffa en Zonen Possibly 1872 - 1874

Curator: Look at this, "Brief aan Frans Buffa en Zonen," or "Letter to Frans Buffa and Sons," created by Jozef Israëls sometime between 1872 and 1874. It’s held here at the Rijksmuseum. A pen and ink drawing. Editor: It's so…fragile. Like holding a whispered secret in your hands. The sepia tones of the paper, the delicate, looping script. There’s a sense of intimacy, but also formality, locked in time. What is it, exactly? A business note? Curator: It appears to be a handwritten letter. It's addressed to Frans Buffa and Sons, who were well-known art dealers in Amsterdam. Note the calligraphic flourish in his signature and address at the end of the letter. Editor: The loops and ligatures are like elegant little cages holding ideas, aren’t they? Handwriting, before typewriters, was a direct extension of the self. You can sense the writer's rhythm, the speed of his thoughts translating onto the page. This letter seems almost melancholic in a way...Perhaps that’s just projecting mood on its age and patina, however. Curator: I imagine it may concern some business relating to engravings of Jozef’s work that Frans Buffa and Zonen may have sold at the time. Notice he mentions something has been engraved. Jozef seems to ask about them by referencing a Mr. B. Cohen, attorney, from Groningen. The overall feeling in this image and letters like these is the sense of connection, which really bridges the temporal gap. We can look at it today and can begin to appreciate this long-forgotten correspondence that once was urgent for its time. Editor: That's beautiful - the resonance. A hundred and fifty years melt away and a trace remains. I wonder what he had "promised"? Curator: Yes. He also includes that he greets Buffa “most heartily”. Such warm salutations make you wonder how they truly felt in communicating the message and what emotions came about because of it. It humanizes figures of history for sure! Editor: Indeed, it reveals a sliver of the intricate web of human interaction behind the creation and commerce of art in the 19th century. Curator: Definitely something that stays with you to imagine as you view paintings from Jozef himself at that time too.