Zittende figuur, mogelijk een jongen 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this sketch of a seated figure, possibly a young boy, using what looks like a graphite pencil on paper. The way Israels has rendered the figure with these tentative, searching lines… it feels like he's trying to capture not just the boy's appearance, but also a sense of his inner life. You can almost see Israels, pencil in hand, circling around his subject, trying to pin down the essence of this boy in a fleeting moment. It’s like he is trying to build the form, piece by piece. And these lines, they aren't just descriptive; they're expressive. See how they thicken and thin, suggesting weight, shadow, and the subtle shifts of form beneath the surface. It reminds me of other artists, like Degas, who used line to convey movement and emotion. Ultimately, drawing is about seeing, feeling, and responding to the world around us. And in this simple sketch, Israels invites us to do the same.