Albert Anker

For his pen drawings, Albert Anker used broad barrel reed, flexible quill, and rigid metal nib pens. His dip pens and inkstand were readily at hand whenever he wanted to capture his children and his wife reading in the evenings during the 1880s and 1890s, or when he was doing sketches for commissioned work.

Even in the black-and-white of the pen drawing, the lamp’s halo is clearly visible on the face and hands of the girl, presumably one of his daughters. The reading material itself is likewise well illuminated. All traces of writing have disappeared, as if the contents of the book had already entered the girl’s thoughts. In his sketches the artist worked as closely as possible to nature, that is, to the living model and the real object, frequently repeating certain studies using a different technique or developing them into paintings.