Felsige Landschaft mit großen Baumgruppen 

Franz Kobell rendered this landscape with pen and brown ink and gray wash, a popular medium of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Kobell, born into a family of artists, was court painter in Mannheim, Germany. The scene has a romantic sensibility, with dramatic rock formations, lush trees, and tiny figures in the foreground to give scale. But look closer: how do you experience this landscape? Is this nature presented as an idyllic escape, or something more complex? What kind of power dynamic is at play when humans are dwarfed by nature, made small and seemingly insignificant? During this period, landscape painting became a way to express national identity and pride in the land. However, this can also mask the human impact on the environment, and the social inequalities that determine who has access to nature. While visually pleasing, the artwork also highlights evolving relationships between humans and the environment, and the cultural values we project onto landscapes.