Van Gogh’s drawings are often overlooked, but he felt they were “the root of everything” (Pollard birches 1884)

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec in a reflective mood ~ here’s his favourite model Carmen Gaudin being distracted as she walks in a stony setting (Pierreuse 1889) ■ and looking wistfully out of a window (La Blanchisseuse, 1886). Sadly, T-L died very young #OTD 1901

It’s hard to escape being drawn in by the compelling gaze of this woman, depicted with extraordinary realism by early 18th century German portraitist Balthasar Denner (Oil on copperplate, Hermitage Museum)

I’ve posted this painting before over the years because no-one really knows what’s going on, but everyone seems to have a firm view about it! So, is she waving to the spectral child outside, or warning her, or maybe something else? ~ Vrel's mysterious ‘Woman at a Window’ (1650)

From almost a century ago ~ little-known Czech photographer Přemysl Koblic’s wonderfully atmospheric image ‘View of a Village from Above’ (1930)