Studieblad, onder andere met een paard, ruiter en boeren en boerinnen 1841 - 1853

Editor: Right now, we’re looking at "Studieblad, onder andere met een paard, ruiter en boeren en boerinnen," a sketchbook page by Johannes Tavenraat, made sometime between 1841 and 1853. It's ink and pencil on paper, a jumble of figures, really. It strikes me as…playful, but also a bit melancholic, like catching a glimpse into someone’s fleeting thoughts. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: You know, playful and melancholic is spot on. It reminds me of sifting through attic boxes filled with forgotten toys and faded photographs. There’s this intimate quality, like we’re intruding on Tavenraat's private world. The mix of figures - the farmers, the horse rider - they feel almost dreamlike, disconnected, yet bound together by the page. And then there’s that upside-down figure… What do you make of that, by the way? Does it not add an extra layer of whimsy or perhaps a hint of unease? Editor: I think it could show the artist experimenting, just turning things on their head, literally. Or, maybe it's a bit of both – the playfulness hiding something darker? Curator: Exactly! Maybe he was onto something! And what about the empty spaces around these figures? They're just as important. They allow each figure to breathe, to exist independently while still contributing to the overall feeling of the sketch. To me this emptiness feels like…potential, the beginnings of a larger story never fully told. I almost want to fill it in with color and turn them into vivid personalities! Editor: That's beautiful, how the incompleteness gives it potential. Seeing this not just as a practice page but as a collection of stories…that changes everything for me. I wonder what tales Tavenraat was trying to tell? Curator: Ah, to wonder! Perhaps we’ll never truly know what sparked Tavenraat's imagination but maybe we can each write our own stories inspired by his page! A wonderful mystery!