Kathedraal te Antwerpen 1781

Editor: So, this is a pencil drawing from 1781 titled *Kathedraal te Antwerpen*, or Cathedral of Antwerp, by Ignatius Joseph van den Berghe. It’s on toned paper, and it gives me a strangely vulnerable feeling, seeing this huge cathedral rendered so delicately. What strikes you about it? Curator: Vulnerable, eh? That's interesting. For me, it feels like a memory being carefully sketched out. Not the grand, imposing stone itself, but someone's *experience* of it. I see a love letter, almost, to the cathedral. Van den Berghe has this… tentative hand. The lines aren't shouting. They whisper, don’t you think? Did the sketchy, incomplete feeling strike you at all? Editor: Yes, definitely a whisper! It feels like you’re catching a fleeting moment. It isn’t trying to capture every detail. Why do you think he left it so… unfinished? Curator: Ah, that’s the delicious part, isn’t it? Maybe he was trying to grasp something beyond perfect representation. Maybe it’s about feeling the vastness, the history, without being bogged down in every last gargoyle. Think of it as capturing the *soul* of the cathedral, rather than simply mapping its face. Is it the artist or subject in control, do you think? Editor: Hmm, the soul versus the face… I like that. So it's not about precision but more about emotion? I suppose I initially saw the "unfinished" quality as a flaw, now I think I see it as… a strength! Curator: Exactly! Flaws are where the light gets in, as the poet says. Now when I look at the etching again, I sense it differently. We all see something unique each time!