Annotatie c. 1886 - 1934

This 'Annotatie' was made by Isaac Israels. You see marks and numbers, like a ghost of a document, a hidden layer beneath. The numbers 138 and 177 are stark against the smudges and fainter, indecipherable writing. These aren't merely identifiers; they are symbols that echo through time. Think of ancient Roman tax records, each number representing a life, a transaction, a piece of property accounted for. These numbers, like echoes from cuneiform tablets, speak of an underlying need to quantify and control. It's a primal act that resurfaces across civilizations. The human compulsion to tally, record, and make sense of existence through numerical order. Here, the numbers linger, traces of administrative tasks, resonating with layers of memory and our ongoing quest to impose order on chaos.