Landschap met een molen 1890 - 1946

Here, on this page from a sketchbook, Cornelis Vreedenburgh worked in pencil to capture a landscape with a windmill. It’s such a lovely, quiet piece. What strikes me is the directness of the marks. Vreedenburgh seems to be thinking through the pencil, feeling his way into the scene. The texture of the paper, with its slight tooth, grabs the graphite, creating a range of grays. There's a real physical presence to the marks; you can almost see his hand moving across the page. Look at the dense hatching on the right, suggesting the side of a building or foliage, and notice how it contrasts with the fainter, more tentative lines suggesting the windmill in the distance. This reminds me of the landscape drawings of Van Gogh. Both artists share a similar commitment to close observation and a willingness to let the process of drawing become a form of thinking. Art is always this conversation, this building upon what has come before.