Abklatsch van de krijttekening op blad 12 recto 1892

This rubbing, or "Abklatsch," was made by Willem Cornelis Rip. Though faint, we can discern the echo of a landscape, perhaps the memory of a place. Consider the act of rubbing itself. It's a technique that dates back to ancient times, used to transfer images or texts from one surface to another. The very method speaks to a desire to capture and preserve, to carry forth a fragment of the world. Think of the "vera icon," the "true image" of Christ's face imprinted on the cloth of Saint Veronica. This too is a form of rubbing, an attempt to make present something that is absent. Here, the landscape is not clearly defined. Like a dream fading upon waking, it is a whisper of form, a trace of a past encounter. This ephemeral quality engages our subconscious, inviting us to fill in the gaps, to project our own memories and associations onto the image. And so the cycle continues: the image fades, is captured, reinterpreted, and resurfaces anew, each time carrying with it a palimpsest of meanings.