Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1908

This is a letter, from around 1900, written in ink on paper by Carel Nicolaas Storm van 's-Gravesande. Imagine the pressure of the nib on the page, the dark ink flowing out in delicate swirls, each stroke deliberate yet fluid. I wonder what was going through Storm van 's-Gravesande's mind as he penned these words to Philip Zilcken? Each line, a little dance across the page, creating a rhythm that’s both intimate and formal. The handwriting itself is a kind of drawing, a direct expression of thought and feeling through the body. It reminds me of Cy Twombly, but with a touch more constraint. You can feel the history of calligraphy, the weight of tradition, yet there’s also something very personal in the way the letters loop and connect. It's like he's inviting us into his world, sharing a piece of his mind with each carefully formed word.