Nicolaaskerk te Amsterdam 1890 - 1946

Here's a sketch of the Nicolaaskerk in Amsterdam by Cornelis Vreedenburgh. Look at that hatched shading, the jumble of lines. I can feel the artist circling the subject, trying to capture the essence of the church’s architecture with a simple pencil. It feels like a fleeting moment, a quick study dashed off in a notebook. I’ve done that before. I imagine Vreedenburgh standing on the street corner, squinting in the Dutch light, his hand moving rapidly across the paper. Is he thinking about the light, or is he concerned with form? Maybe he's trying to get a feel for the weight of the building. You know, it's like he's building the church all over again on paper, brick by brick. This reminds me of other architectural studies I've seen from different eras. Artists are always borrowing ideas. It is a reminder that we're all part of this ongoing conversation, this back-and-forth across time.