Jan Mankes - Twee muizen - Engraving, Public domain image

Jan Mankes, who was already dead from tuberculosis at the age of thirty-one, was a solitary individual in Dutch art. In 1903 he began working as an apprentice at a Delft stained-glass atelier but in 1908 chose to be a full-time artist instead. He withdrew to his parental home in the Friesian countryside, where he created small, finely painted works of landscapes, people, animals and flowers. His work is characterised by an immense restraint and stillness. It has a dreamlike quality, is vaguely symbolic and, above all, delicate.