Landschap met boom en man bij een hek 1809 - 1840

Curator: This drawing, currently residing here at the Rijksmuseum, is titled "Landscape with Tree and Man by a Fence." Carel Lodewijk Hansen executed it sometime between 1809 and 1840. It’s rendered in pencil, offering us an intimate glimpse into a romanticized rural scene. Editor: My first thought? Mellancholy, definitely melancholy. It's all that grey-scale—or rather, pencil-scale—giving off that turn-of-the-century vibes. That gnarly tree looms so large, almost like the guardian of a secret. Curator: Let's consider the material conditions of its making. Pencil drawings, particularly landscapes, gained popularity as readily portable and reproducible mediums. This allowed artists like Hansen to both sketch 'en plein air' and create works for a growing market interested in picturesque views, like this tranquil spot. Editor: Yeah, but look at that man, leaning on the fence. What’s he thinking? Lost love? Bad crops? Or maybe he is just admiring the darn tree, like any good landscape appreciator should! Curator: Possibly! The figure is relatively small, emphasizing the scale of the natural landscape. It also situates the production within the Romantic movement, where we see idealized nature against the backdrop of early industrial shifts in labour. Editor: I'm so curious how a contemporary farmer or farmhand viewed these romanticized visions. There’s such a selective prettifying going on. Was farm work ever so charming or picture-postcard perfect? Probably not. Curator: Indeed. The social context is key. Consider who bought these images, versus those who lived the realities depicted. The consumption of idyllic rural scenes fulfilled specific desires of the emergent middle classes in urbanizing centres. Editor: All that pencil... you almost want to touch the paper, run your fingers along the textures... or at least write some overwrought poetry. This is pure art with a heavy heart, wouldn't you agree? Curator: Absolutely, and by reflecting on both the process of its creation and the cultural appetite that sustained its production, we reveal deeper insights into that heavy-hearted artistic project. Editor: And the fact that a tree from the early 1800's may well still be alive. Kinda neat, eh?