Old Woman Watching a Young Boy Writing; verso: Female Figure

Wilhemina Moes was born and trained in Amsterdam at August Allebé’s “ladies’ class” held at the Rijksacademie voor Bildende Kunst. She was later introduced through a friend to a lively circle of Dutch and German artists, and following her studies, traveled to Paris. She submitted work to the Paris Salon, but received only a lukewarm reception. She eventually made her way back to Holland where she resided at the artist’s colony in Laren where fellow artists Jozef Israels, Anton Mauve and others were active.

Moes’s representations of children are especially tender images that were popular during her lifetime. This sketch of an old woman and young boy could be seen as a genre piece or as a kind of metaphor on the stages of life. It is filled with humanity, an expression of himan aging: Moe's sensitive depiction of the woman, eyes downcast, seemingly lost in thought, as the  young boy in the foreground, practices his writing, the intensity of his focus palpable. One of the most prominent bonds in human portraiture is that of mother and child, here perhaps grandmother and grandson, and Moes depiction of the two figures is tender, a window into an intensely private moment. Moes's It is executed with a free, vibrant hand -- beautifully and rapidly rendered black chalk and charcoal lines with touches of white chalk heightening -- and has a large sketch of a woman on the verso that appears to be a totally freehand drawing.