Stadsgezicht met een zeilboot op een gracht Possibly 1914 - 1919

Editor: Here we have "Cityscape with a sailboat on a canal" by Willem Cornelis Rip, likely from somewhere between 1914 and 1919. It looks like it’s created with pencil and maybe some ink. It's a pretty quick sketch, but I can almost feel the quiet stillness of the water. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, yes, a fleeting moment captured. I see the artist, perhaps perched somewhere along the canal, quickly noting down the scene before the light changes. Notice how the looseness of the sketch actually contributes to the overall impression. It’s like a memory, hazy but evocative. And the way he uses the pencil, varying the pressure to suggest depth…it's almost musical. It's just so delicate; can you feel that, too? Like a half-remembered dream on a grey morning? Editor: I can see what you mean about the musicality of it, especially with the vertical lines that form of the tall building reflecting the light on the water, even though it’s just a quick sketch. Did artists back then do a lot of these types of sketches? Curator: Absolutely. Sketchbooks were essential for artists. A place to record impressions, practice techniques, or just work through ideas. And for a landscape artist like Rip, a quick sketch like this could be the basis for a more finished work later on, or just a way to connect with a place, and preserve his impression of a feeling he got standing there, a certain silence in time that struck him and only him. Did he get a sense of ominous anticipation standing here sketching? The work has a melancholic feel. Editor: I never really thought of sketches being quite so...personal, like a diary entry almost. It makes me appreciate them even more. Curator: Precisely! It is like glimpsing directly into the artist's mind and soul; these windows into their perception of light and atmosphere, these captured fragments are incredibly powerful, far beyond the surface-level representation, wouldn't you agree?