Hunebed bij Tynaarlo 1915

Dirk Arnoldus Tavenraat made this print of a prehistoric stone monument near Tynaarlo, we're not sure when, but think of it as a slice of history, captured in ink on paper. Look at the surface, you can almost feel the rough texture of the stones, and the way the light catches on them. Tavenraat uses simple lines, but he gets so much complexity and depth, you can see the little scratches and scribbles that build up the shadows. The marks are all done with hatching, those tiny lines, a bit like a ballpoint pen drawing, but the way they're layered gives the stones weight, it’s about building and revealing. Notice that big stone on the left, how the lines curve and swell, really giving it a sense of form. This reminds me of the work of Hercules Seghers, who was also interested in texture. Like Seghers, Tavenraat shows how art can embrace ambiguity, inviting endless interpretations.