Portretschets

Portretschets, literally “portrait sketch” in Dutch, is a quick, preparatory drawing of a person intended to capture the essential likeness and gesture rather than finish details. It is typically executed rapidly, focusing on proportions, major masses, and expression.

Media commonly include pencil, charcoal, chalk, ink, or wash. The approach emphasizes immediacy: loose contour lines, constructive shapes, and light-to-dark modeling rather than meticulous rendering. Sittings may last from a few minutes to about half an hour, depending on context.

Purpose and use: portretschets serves as a study for a finished portrait or as a standalone exercise in observation. They appear in life-drawing sessions, sketchbooks, and studio practice, helping the artist establish pose, lighting, character, and rhythm before committing to a larger work.

Historical and stylistic context: in Dutch and broader European art, artists maintained portable sketchbooks with rapid observational studies of sitters. While some portretschets contributed to completed portraits, others are valued as finished works in their own right for their spontaneity and immediacy.

Relation to other forms: it is distinguished from a finished portrait by its brevity, reduced detail, and emphasis on gesture and likeness over texture. Related forms include preparatory studies, life drawings, and caricatures, all sharing an emphasis on quick, truthful observation.