Vrouw op een ezel c. 1890 - 1920

Here we have a pencil drawing of a woman on a donkey, made by Isaac Israels, and held at the Rijksmuseum. It's all about the touch, the way the pencil teases the paper. Israels wasn't trying to capture every detail; he was feeling his way through the scene, the lines are loose and searching, finding the donkey's form with a kind of tender curiosity. Look closely, and you can almost see the ghost of erasures, the artist's hand making decisions, changing course. That scratchy shading on the donkey's flank? It's like Israels is tickling the surface, inviting the light to dance. There's a definite nod to impressionism here, maybe a touch of Degas in the way he captures the fleeting moment. It's a reminder that art is a conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time. It doesn't have to shout to be heard. Sometimes, the quietest voices leave the deepest impression.