Deel van een mannengezicht, mogelijk een zelfportret

Isaac Israels made this partial portrait, possibly a self portrait, as a pencil sketch. The marks are all tentative, provisional, a process of feeling out the form. The paper is almost entirely empty, except for the intense little cluster of marks on the right. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly drawing, but in miniature. The eye is so carefully and precisely delineated, but the rest is a flurry of marks, almost like the artist is trying to erase the face even as he draws it. Look at that little mark below the eye, is that the start of a nose, or a tear? It's like Israels is asking, how do we construct an identity, how do we see ourselves? And is it ever really possible to capture a likeness, or is it always just a partial, fragmented impression? Drawing is like thinking, never quite complete, always searching.