Reproductie van een tekening van de rivier Le Fusain door Karl Robert before 1884

This is a reproduction of a drawing of the river Le Fusain by Karl Robert, published in an anonymous bulletin. The image on the left is a reproduction of a landscape drawing; opposite, on the right page, we see some institutional text. The juxtaposition of these two visual forms indicates the nineteenth-century desire to categorize and possess the natural world, both scientifically and aesthetically. Without knowing when and where this bulletin was published, it is difficult to comment on what social, economic, or political climate it was made within. The fact that it has been collected by an institution indicates its value as a historical artefact, however. By researching such publications as this, we can learn a lot about the social function of art in a particular place and time. Art is rarely made in a vacuum, and it always reflects the social and institutional conditions that shape its production and reception.