Landscape with castle ruins 

Franz Kobell created this drawing of castle ruins using pen and brown ink. Kobell was working in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period marked by the rise of Romanticism. This artistic movement celebrated the beauty of nature and was fascinated by the past. We see this in the crumbling architecture and dramatic landscape. The ruin can be considered a representation of the passage of time, a reminder of the transience of human achievement when faced with the power of nature. What might at first glance appear to be a simple landscape is actually deeply embedded in the cultural values of its time. As historians, we can look at the journals and literature of the period, study the writings of art critics, and examine other contemporary artworks, to fully understand the changing role of nature and history in the art of the period. Art is always more than just what we see, it is a reflection of its time.