Female head seen from below (cropped)

Curator: This piece, simply titled "Female head seen from below (cropped)," comes to us from the 17th century, crafted by Jacopo Palma il Giovane. It's a pencil drawing currently residing here at the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. Editor: My initial feeling is one of precariousness. That the angle from which the head is drawn creates such uncertainty; that she is not steady, balanced, but about to... fall, even? Curator: An interesting interpretation! Palma was working in a very particular Venetian Baroque idiom. And indeed, his studies like this, exploring unconventional perspectives were preparation for large-scale paintings, typically of allegorical subjects adorning ceilings. Editor: Palma seems interested in capturing a range of different effects from the paper substrate, a surface that gives depth of tone with such subtlety. Was this prepared with any additional pigment or wash, and what kind of pencils were being used in Venice at that point? Curator: Great questions! The paper has age upon it to be certain, as this would most likely have been prepared for a range of purposes. Regarding the pencils, in the 17th century the "pencils" one used often meant some form of metalpoint: a piece of silver, lead, or another metal, held in a wooden or ivory holder that would then be used to make marks on a specially prepared surface. But let’s be honest: this kind of study doesn’t leave itself open for only technical observations, the piece breathes. I feel there is movement there… almost a silent drama, in spite of the cropped element, the partial incompleteness you could call it. Editor: I find it very exciting how this artist captures and modulates the available materials and surface, yet, how interesting to consider that this incomplete study also functions as a symbolic act of incompleteness too; and to also take the incompleteness, rawness as a reflection of this woman in time? Curator: Right! It speaks volumes by revealing, almost carelessly, its own creative and intellectual context; from the choice of tools to a mere impression of the head. And this may very well be why this seemingly humble work fascinates. Editor: Yes, it asks us to remember the many invisible hours, invisible choices, materials and labour, behind what often becomes, through display and consumption, one smooth surface. Curator: It’s that tension between process and…almost a moment of presence that keeps us intrigued, I think. Editor: Precisely. We are all a work in progress.