Joseph Mendes da Costa 1908

This is Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita’s Joseph Mendes da Costa print. The paper is a sandy colour, offset by white lines, that make up the image. You can see the artist’s hand and arm crossed as he sits back in his chair, his little pipe, the set of his brow. I wonder what it was like for Mesquita to sit with Joseph Mendes da Costa while he was drawing him. Did he chat, make jokes, or just sit in companionable silence? I’m touched by how he captures a fellow artist. I imagine him really looking at the other man, trying to capture not just how he looks but what it feels like to be him. As a painter myself, I know the care that goes into trying to conjure a person into being. I bet the conversation between the two artists was very interesting, a real exchange of ideas.