Window with a View

Willem Lenssinck

Fellow sculptor Margot Homan lived in Piertra Santa, Italy. She creates beautiful, elegant female figures, and there was a discussion about how large the breasts should be. The standard is the model of Pomona. The name says it all: it's an apple, and therefore not larger. A standard of the Greco-Roman norm. 'We are much further along now, so why not much larger?' Willem wondered. 'Then it might become vulgar,' said Margot. 'Not necessarily,' said Willem. 'Provided it is executed aesthetically, no one can say anything about it.' Still, it didn't go smoothly. First, Willem's wife Catherine posed, but that sculpture failed. According to her, it wasn't a Lenssinck sculpture. After three months of struggling and tinkering, he started again. In four days, he made a new model because the Muse came around the corner. When that happens, just like with the double-muscled bull, everything goes automatically. You no longer have to think. The soft clay allowed him to get all the shapes right. There is flair in the sculpture. The look, the mouth, and further lines that Willem can't remember putting in. The finishing touch was a tap to the head, which created the kink in the sculpture. The hand then pressed into the cheek, creating a perfect dynamic. The title came afterward. A View on Aesthetics. You look through a window. Hence the separate pedestal with a framework. He considers this one of the nicest sculptures he has made, and it found its way to a dentist in the Arab world. Without the pedestal, though.

180 x 80 x 45 cm

Bronze and hardstone

1996