Blank. Side 110 1840 - 1844

This is side 110 from a sketchbook by Johan Thomas Lundbye, a Danish artist working in the first half of the 19th century. What we see here are pages filled with writing. Sketchbooks are interesting documents for the cultural historian. They show not only the artwork itself, but also the artist’s notes, sketches, and observations about the world around them. These are the raw materials of art, the everyday thoughts and experiences that artists translate into finished works. Lundbye was a landscape painter, and Denmark in the 19th century had a strong sense of national identity linked to the land. Thinkers began exploring the idea of ‘folk culture’ and what it meant to be Danish. Lundbye was a part of that movement. To understand Lundbye's art better, we can look at his personal writings, the records of the art institutions he was associated with, and the writings of contemporary thinkers. This can help us to interpret the meaning of his art as something shaped by, and commenting on, its social and institutional context.