Schetsboek met 65 bladen 1797 - 1838

Editor: This is Johannes Christiaan Schotel's "Sketchbook with 65 Leaves," dating from 1797 to 1838. It's a mixed-media piece combining drawing and watercolor on paper. It looks so unassuming at first glance. Almost blank! What do you see in it? Curator: An unopened book holds immense potential, wouldn't you agree? It's a vessel of stories yet to be told. This isn’t merely paper and pigment; it's a captured moment in time. The marks, the wear and tear... each tells its own story. What feelings do these evoke in you? Editor: Definitely a sense of anticipation. Also, just the physical presence of the object, bearing witness to history. I can see where it may contain portraits and landscapes too. Does its seemingly plain presentation mask a deeper narrative? Curator: Precisely! Consider what the sketchbook represents. The romantic era valued emotion, intuition, and the power of individual experience. For Schotel, what symbols might a sketchbook have represented beyond simple utility? Editor: Perhaps a space for unfettered exploration, a private world… his raw emotional response to the world around him captured in those pages? Curator: Beautifully said. Each drawing would become a fragment of his world, imbued with layers of symbolic meaning based on his lived experiences, as the self and world intermixes. A constant becoming... Editor: So the value isn't only in the finished artwork that may be found on those pages, but the evidence of his thoughts, processes, and evolution as an artist. That is really neat! Curator: Exactly. We see a container of artistic intentions, personal musings and cultural influences frozen within the same object. That’s where its true power lies.