Silver Chalice 1935 - 1942

Thomas Holloway made this drawing of a silver chalice sometime in the 18th or 19th century. I can imagine him hunched over his drawing board, squinting his eyes to capture the light playing on the chalice's surface. It’s so precise and linear, with tiny marks imitating the soft glow of the polished silver. It reminds me of the drawings I made as a student, trying to render a likeness of the subject. But what was Holloway thinking, beyond mere description? Maybe he wanted to capture the value, both literal and symbolic, of this object. Those engraved letters there – BNRDI – they add a layer of mystery. In a way, drawing is about trying to hold something still, which is impossible, like trying to hold water in a chalice. The more you look, the more it slips away, reforming into something new. I see a conversation here, between the artist, the object, and us, the viewers, about the meaning we project onto things.