Vrouw met hoed, in profiel 1875 - 1934

Here's a charcoal drawing by Isaac Israels. I imagine him rapidly sketching, the charcoal stick moving swiftly across the page, capturing the essence of the woman with a hat in profile. The marks are so direct, each line a confident stroke, almost as if he's trying to capture a fleeting moment. You know what I mean? Like a snapshot in time, like a memory. Looking at how he’s put down the lines, you see how they build up, almost searching for the right form, the hat, the face. I'm curious about what Israels was thinking and feeling as he drew this woman. Was he intrigued by her elegance, or by the way the light hit her face? Did he know her? There is an urgency to the image, a sense that he had to get it down quickly before the moment passed. It is like the painting's whispering something that shifts a little bit each time you look at it.