Man met een pet, snor en jas met knopen 1848 - 1888

This is Anton Mauve’s, ‘Man met een pet, snor en jas met knopen’, residing at the Rijksmuseum. As part of the Hague School, Mauve was interested in the everyday lives of the Dutch. This sketch, quickly rendered, gives us insight into the male dress of the period. The hat and buttoned jacket, markers of the middle class, speak to the rise of industry. Yet the swiftness of the sketch also speaks to the intimacy between the artist and his sitter. Is this a quick study of a friend, a record of a passerby? The soft lines of the sketch give an emotional access to a man we know nothing about, except that he existed and was deemed worthy of Mauve's attention. The sketch invites us to reflect on our own encounters with the fleeting moments of human connection. It's not just a study of a man, but an open ended moment of what it means to see and be seen.