Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1885 - 1931

This print by Frederika Henriëtte Broeksmit features an unknown woman rendered in a warm, sepia tone. It's all lines, hatched and cross-hatched, to build up a sense of volume and light. I think about Frederika etching away at the plate, building up the image through tiny marks. How did she decide where to put each line? Was it a slow, deliberate process or a more intuitive dance between her eye, the model, and the etching tool? There's something so intimate about a portrait – trying to capture not just a likeness, but also a feeling. Look at the way she's captured the soft curls of the hair and the delicate curve of the nose. You know, maybe Frederika was thinking about Rembrandt, about how he used light and shadow to create drama and depth. Or maybe she was just trying to capture the essence of this particular woman, to immortalize her in ink. It's all connected, this conversation between artists across time.