Man in een kerkinterieur, een ezel en figuurstudies 1822 - 1893

Editor: Willem Troost created this drawing with watercolor sometime between 1822 and 1893. It’s titled “Man in een kerkinterieur, een ezel en figuurstudies,” which translates to "Man in a Church Interior, a Donkey, and Figure Studies". What strikes me is how disparate all the elements seem; they don’t quite cohere into a single image. What do you make of this collection of images on one page? Curator: Ah, yes, it's like stumbling into someone's visual diary, isn't it? It gives us such intimate access to an artist’s mind. A church interior, upside down – almost as if glimpsed through a puddle or reflected in a fever dream – a proud man and then a rather charming donkey also presented from an unexpected perspective. Does the odd assortment give you a sense of his working process? Perhaps his attempt to synthesize everyday reality into some transcendent idea? Editor: That's interesting... a visual diary, a transcendent idea. It hadn't occurred to me that the disjointed feeling could be intentional. The donkey upside down seemed almost comical initially. But to think of the images not as separate but related, gives them much more substance and nuance. Curator: Exactly! Now, the question becomes, related how? Consider that churches often represented spiritual or moral centres. Perhaps the donkey— an animal burdened by physical work, and thus of a low state —suggests an inverted social order of some kind when juxtaposed to this context? Think of all the art historically linking figures riding donkeys, too. Or I wonder if these sketches were just Troost simply enjoying recording different scenes? Perhaps there’s no profound statement after all, and that in itself IS the revelation: seeing the sacred and profane on equal terms? What do you think? Editor: You've given me so much to consider, it's definitely shifted my perception of the piece from something scattered to something rich with potential meaning, I hadn't realised how many questions could arise from a simple-looking sketch! Curator: It reminds you that art’s not always about answers, is it? Sometimes it is about what emerges in the questioning...in the wonderful gaps!