Vrouwenbuste 1739 - 1851

This is Vrouwenbuste, or Bust of a Woman, by Johannes Janson, a chalk drawing on prepared paper. Look closely, and you can see the rapid application of strokes, hatching from dark to light to give shape and shadow. The artist is working fast, efficiently. And this makes sense when we consider that it may be a study for a more elaborate work, perhaps a print that could then be sold in multiples. The production of prints in the 18th century was a business, dependent on the labour of many skilled hands. Janson himself probably completed many such drawings, which would then be etched into a copper plate and printed by others. Drawings like these are easy to overlook. But seeing them, we can sense the busy-ness of the 18th-century art world. They are a vital reminder that art is often a collaborative undertaking, more like a factory than an isolated act of genius.