Kop van een oude vrouw 1741 - 1746

Editor: Here we have "Head of an Old Woman," a pencil drawing by Pompeo Batoni, created sometime between 1741 and 1746. It's a striking profile, and something about the delicacy of the lines juxtaposed with the age of the subject is very moving. What do you see in this piece, beyond just the visible image? Curator: Oh, you've hit on something crucial there. Beyond the obvious skill in rendering form with such sparse lines, I see Batoni grappling with time itself. This isn’t just a portrait; it’s a meditation on aging, on the stories etched into a face. The pencil seems to almost caress the paper, as if he's tenderly tracing the map of a life lived. Makes you wonder what that life was like, doesn't it? Did she sit for him? Or did he sketch her surreptitiously? It's a glimpse of someone’s inner world, laid bare on paper, decades if not centuries later. Editor: It definitely evokes a sense of quiet intimacy. I'm also struck by how "modern" it feels for something so old. Is that a function of the artist’s skill or is there something else at play? Curator: I think it's both! Batoni was deeply influenced by the Renaissance masters, but he infused their techniques with a real, almost photographic naturalism that feels incredibly contemporary. He was after truth, raw and unvarnished. And to me, that pursuit of genuine feeling is timeless. Like gazing into a mirror and seeing a whole lifetime flicker in the reflection. You feel it too, don't you? Editor: I do. I’ll never look at a simple sketch the same way again. Curator: Wonderful! And I might just start carrying a sketchbook everywhere. Never know when you might capture a masterpiece, or a little piece of someone's soul.