Portret van Frederik, prins der Nederlanden 1881 - 1949

This “Portret van Frederik, prins der Nederlanden” at the Rijksmuseum, was made anonymously, and its linear quality makes me think it could be a print. I find myself wondering, what's it like to be the artist tasked with rendering this dude's likeness? How do you capture someone's essence, especially when they're all medals and stern looks? The fine marks, they’re so precise, as if the artist is trying to capture not just a face, but a whole persona. The way the lines build up the shading, it's like they’re trying to find the underlying structure of the guy’s character, stroke by stroke. It reminds me of those old master drawings, but with a touch of…something else. Maybe it's the way the artist allows for a bit of looseness, a little wiggle room in the lines. It makes me think about the conversations artists have across time, each one riffing off the other, pushing the boundaries of what representation can be. We're all just trying to figure it out as we go, right?