Portret van Frederik, prins der Nederlanden 1881 - 1949

This portrait of Frederik, Prince of the Netherlands, an anonymous print now in the Rijksmuseum, is all about line, line, line. The whole thing is built up from these tiny little hatching marks, like the artist was building a whole world out of pure potential. Look at how those marks swarm and gather, dense and dark in the shadows, then thin out to almost nothing in the highlights. It’s like the artist is thinking out loud, each little line a thought, a decision. The texture of the print is amazing – almost velvety in the darker areas, then crisp and clean where the light hits. See how the lines around his face create this incredible sense of volume, like you could reach out and touch him? It makes you wonder about all the choices made in the process. This kind of obsessive mark-making reminds me of some of the etchings of the German artist Käthe Kollwitz, where every line feels loaded with emotion and meaning. It's like they are both embracing the imperfections and ambiguities inherent in the process of making art.