TO HUYGENS

 

The golden legacy of two great Dutchmen of the 17th Century, Constantijn and Christiaan Huygens, has inspired Ciska to create a contempory image from a 21st century perspective of these two famous Dutch Golden Age men, in drawings portraits and sculptures.  Besides autographed prints and postcards, she has created small sculptures using the latest 3D printing technologies.

 

Ciska: ‘Of course I have never met these men in person. My portraits and drawings are my personal interpretation after having studied their recorded historical images on paintings, engravings and medals. Both men were genius foresighted and innovative thinkers. Likewise it seemed according to their mind and spirit to portray both men in a completely innovative way. Instead of melting my original wax sculpture models into bronze casting as had been the tradition for centuries, I scanned the models instead and printed them in a high tech 3D technique. The prints are made of ABS plastic material in different colours and variations, even in a gold colour and glow in the dark variation. The portraits are placed on extended pins mounted on rough marble pedestals. By printing them in this high tech way and placing them on ancient material such as marble, I wanted to, like Constantijn and Christiaan in the seventeenth century, bridge the gap between, past, present and future. The portrait sculptures are a personal tribute to the lofty and innovative progressive thinking of these two extraordinary Dutch men’.