Roeiboot aan de waterkant after 1854

Johannes Tavenraat created this sketch of a rowboat on the shore with graphite on paper. The drawing uses diagonal and vertical lines to bring a sense of depth and texture. The rowboat is constructed from weathered planks, detailed with dense, directional hatching. The artist uses linear perspective to depict the boat, which appears truncated and incomplete. This compositional choice destabilizes the viewer's expectation of completeness, highlighting the structural elements of the boat and the artist's method of representation. The strategic use of line work emphasizes the boat's materiality, almost as a diagram. Tavenraat seems less interested in presenting a picturesque scene and more focused on dissecting the form and structure of the boat itself. Through his choice of lines, Tavenraat invites us to consider how drawing can be an analytical as well as an aesthetic practice.