Die gestörte, aber glücklich wieder errungene Nachtruhe (Der Floh); 13 1862

This is a pencil sketch made by the German artist Wilhelm Busch, entitled *Die gestörte, aber glücklich wieder errungene Nachtruhe (Der Floh)*, which translates to "The disturbed, but happily regained night's rest (The Flea)." The work's very appeal comes from Busch's loose handling of the material. The pencil lines are allowed to be themselves: smudgy, suggestive, and light. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the paper, capturing the essence of a late-night domestic scene. The figure, hunched over in his nightclothes, is drawn with just a few strokes, yet conveys a wealth of emotion. This drawing isn't about high art pretensions. It's about the immediacy of the everyday. The skill comes not from laboriously rendering form, but from rapidly capturing a moment with maximum impact. Busch's sketch reminds us that sometimes the most profound statements are made with the simplest of means. It is in this simplicity that we find the true artistry of the work.