Portret van mevrouw W.M. Broeksmit-van Peski

Frederika Henriëtte Broeksmit made this portrait of Mrs. Broeksmit-van Peski using etching, a printmaking process that relies on acid to bite into a metal plate. The whole image feels like a collection of quick marks and scratches, like a page torn from a sketchbook. I’m drawn to how Broeksmit uses line, not to describe so much as to suggest form. See how she renders the sitter’s dress and the chair she’s sitting in with these dense, almost frantic lines, and then leaves other areas almost blank, so the image flickers in and out of focus. There's a kind of intimacy to it, like we're glimpsing a private moment. The lack of clear detail almost gives the scene an unfinished quality, but it also makes you look closer, filling in the gaps with your own imagination. It reminds me a bit of some of Manet’s etchings, where he uses a similar kind of shorthand to capture a fleeting impression. Ultimately, it’s about the feeling it evokes, rather than a photographic likeness.