Kop van een grijsaard met baard before 1909

Mary Cantineau’s ‘Head of an Old Man with a Beard’ shows a face emerging from darkness, etched with what looks like sepia ink. The whole thing has a scratchy, alive feel, like it was coaxed into being through a delicate dance between the artist and the plate. Up close, you can see how the face seems to come forward, the darkest ink pulled back to form the background. A dense network of lines define the beard, and the light feels like it's rising from below, giving the face a ghostly presence. You can almost feel Cantineau’s hand, moving back and forth, etching in the wrinkles, the weight of time etched on the face of the subject. Cantineau shares a lineage with artists like Rembrandt, who also understood how darkness could illuminate the human condition. It's a reminder that art isn't just about what we see, but about how we see. It's this kind of openness that makes art so endlessly fascinating, isn't it?