Bergige Landschaft mit Bäumen und Staffagefiguren 

Franz Kobell created this landscape drawing with pen and brown ink. Notice the lone figure, almost absorbed by the wilderness; a 'staffage figure' dwarfed by nature's grandeur. This motif echoes throughout art history, reminding us of the Romantics' fascination with the sublime. Consider Caspar David Friedrich's wanderers, or even earlier, the figures scattered in Pieter Bruegel’s sweeping landscapes. These small figures are not merely decorative, they reflect our precarious place in the cosmos. The emotional resonance of such imagery is timeless; we are reminded of our individual insignificance within the face of nature's overwhelming power. Thus, the staffage figure persists, a testament to our human consciousness and a recognition of nature's enduring presence. It appears and reappears, bearing witness to the changing relationship between humanity and nature across time.