Træstudie 1840s

Dankvart Dreyer made this Træstudie, or Tree Study, in Denmark using pen and brown ink. It is likely that Dreyer made this study during his time at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It was common practice for artists to make studies of nature, especially trees, as a way to develop their skills in observation and representation. Looking at the work of his contemporaries, and instructors, we can see how Dreyer uses a light, quick touch to capture the essence of the trees, and how he experiments with different ways of representing foliage. He may have been influenced by the romanticism movement, which emphasized the beauty and power of nature. The institutional history of art academies is vital to understanding the context in which Dreyer produced this study. By consulting records and archives from that time, we can learn more about the curriculum and the expectations for students. We can understand the social conditions that shaped artistic production in Denmark in the 19th century.