Overgrown rocky outcrop 

Franz Kobell made this pen and brown ink drawing called 'Overgrown rocky outcrop' sometime around the late 18th century. Looking at this drawing today, we should consider the public role of landscape imagery in the late 1700s. The image seems to idealize nature, but it does so through the artistic conventions of the time. The cross-hatching, for example, simulates the appearance of a finished print, which was the dominant medium for disseminating landscape imagery at this time. This drawing would likely have been a preparatory sketch for a more 'finished' artwork. Kobell was working in Germany, where there was an increasing demand for landscape art, especially among the rising middle class who wanted to display images of the natural world in their homes. The Städel Museum, where this drawing is housed today, was founded in the early 19th century to meet this growing desire for public engagement with art. To understand this work fully, we should consider the history of printmaking, the art market, and the development of public art institutions in Germany during this period.