To kalker af fugle, desuden afskrift på tysk efter Richard Engelmann "Bilder antiken Lebens Pompei" 1864 - 1941

This page, filled with drawings and handwritten notes, was made by Niels Larsen Stevns; it's like a peek into his mind. The delicate sketches of birds, captured with such economy of line, seem to flutter across the page. I can imagine Stevns hunched over his notebook, perhaps in a museum or library, carefully copying images from Richard Engelmann's book on Pompeii. What was he thinking as he traced those lines, trying to capture the essence of those ancient images? Was he drawn to their classical beauty, or was he searching for something more personal? There's a real intimacy to this work, a sense of Stevns's hand and mind working in tandem. The way the sketches are collaged onto the page, alongside his own notes, creates a rich and layered surface. It's like a conversation between artists across time, each inspiring and informing the other. And maybe that's what art is all about - a continual exchange of ideas, a way of seeing the world through another's eyes.