Fluß zwischen hohen Bergen, im Vordergrund ein gestürzter Mann und ein Esel 

Friedrich Wilhelm Hirt rendered this river scene with charcoal, ink, and wash on laid paper. The monochromatic palette focuses our attention on the artist’s mark making. Look closely, and you can see the artist’s hand, translating the scene with varied strokes that seem to capture a single, fleeting moment. The application of wash creates depth and shadow, emphasizing the rugged texture of the landscape. The labor is implicit; the hand moving back and forth across the paper to slowly build up this composition. The figures of the man and donkey in the foreground hints at the social context. The weary traveler perhaps represents the laboring class, contrasted against the sublime, romanticized landscape, and the distant castle. Hirt's work reminds us that even in the most idealized scenes, the realities of human labor are ever present. By recognizing the artist's hand, and social context, we see how art intertwines with the world around us, inviting us to reflect on the labor, and lives, behind the image.