Schetsboek met 13 bladen c. 1896 - 1899

This is Willem Witsen's sketchbook, made with pen and ink on paper, now held in the Rijksmuseum. The very existence of sketchbooks points to key shifts in the 19th-century art world. Think about the changing status of the artist at that time, becoming less of a craftsman and more of an individual genius. Sketchbooks became vital tools for capturing fleeting impressions and developing personal styles. The Netherlands, with its rich artistic heritage and emerging modern identity, was a particularly fertile ground for these developments. Witsen was a member of the Amsterdam Impressionism movement that captured everyday life, and this sketchbook would have been vital to his practice. When we study sketchbooks like these, we're not just looking at individual artworks, but at the very social conditions that shaped artistic production. By studying the contents of this book, alongside letters, exhibition catalogues, and critical reviews, we can get a better understanding of how art was made, consumed, and understood in Witsen's time.