Standbeeld van Joost van den Vondel 1822 - 1879

Reinier Craeyvanger created this drawing of the statue of Joost van den Vondel sometime in the 19th century. The medium is graphite pencil on paper. What is intriguing is the way the drawing mimics sculpture through its careful gradations of tone, giving the figure both weight and volume. The soft give of the pencil is perfectly suited to describe the folds of the cape and the subject’s expression. We also get a sense of Craeyvanger’s labor and skill in the delicate rendering of light and shadow. In this way, it's fascinating to think about the relationship between the drawing and the statue it represents. The statue itself is an object made by hand, by a skilled artist, and that labor is captured again in the drawing. The drawing gives us an intimate, tactile sense of the statue. The work prompts us to think about how the artwork embodies social and cultural values, and what it tells us about the relationship between art, labor, and society.