Jongen met een platte hoed 1865 - 1913

Editor: This is "Jongen met een platte hoed," or "Boy with a Flat Hat," a pencil sketch made sometime between 1865 and 1913, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It looks like a quick study, something from a sketchbook, perhaps. What do you see in this seemingly simple portrait? Curator: I see a fleeting moment captured. The boy’s hat immediately strikes me. What does the hat signify? In this period, hats often denoted status and profession. Is it a marker of boyhood, of belonging? Notice, too, the incomplete lines – are they accidental, or do they invite us to fill in the gaps, to participate in the act of creation, and perhaps in constructing the boy's very identity? Editor: That's interesting! I hadn't considered the hat as a signifier of status. Curator: Consider the use of line. Thin, almost tentative. Pencil is a medium of immediacy. The emotional register, I would say, speaks of a passing fancy. Now, why do you think the artist chose this medium and level of finish for this particular subject? Was it an intimate moment, too private to develop? Editor: It definitely feels more personal than a formal portrait. Perhaps the artist wanted to remember the boy as they were in that specific moment, but didn’t intend for it to become a finished piece. Curator: Precisely! These are potent choices rooted in symbolism, in the cultural weight of capturing someone’s likeness. Editor: I never thought a simple sketch could hold so much meaning. Curator: The beauty often lies in the suggestive, in the potential for stories untold.