Portret van Cornelis Ploos van Amstel 1767

Editor: We're looking at Jacobus Buys' "Portret van Cornelis Ploos van Amstel," a pencil drawing from 1767 housed in the Rijksmuseum. There's a delicacy to it, a quietness. What strikes me is the man's knowing gaze. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It whispers of intellectual curiosity, doesn't it? The light catches him just so, like a fleeting thought illuminated. See how Buys uses line? So economical, yet he captures the weight of that powdered wig, the texture of his coat. It’s Neoclassical restraint, distilled into pure observation. He's got his hands clasped on a piece of paper, doesn't he? Perhaps his notes? Or an early lithograph maybe? A letter? This fellow Ploos van Amstel looks clever enough. I find it a very pensive study of a gentleman scholar, would you not agree? Editor: Absolutely. The placement of the hands and paper add a sense of depth and maybe some ambiguity around his character. How much of what we see is observation versus interpretation, right? Curator: Precisely! Think about what they were debating over tea in Amsterdam coffee houses back then, with wigged Enlightenment heads getting passionate about natural history and all manner of new things. You’ve got to wonder if Buys thought about it, too. What would it be like to capture their very essence, you know? A soul exposed in the eyes! Editor: So much to ponder from one seemingly simple portrait. Curator: Yes, it’s a little doorway into a whole world! Each line drawn is a story to unravel.