Landschap met wandelaars en bomen 1748 - 1806

Edward Edwards made this etching of a landscape with wanderers and trees in the late 18th century. It depicts figures in what appears to be a public park, a site of both leisure and potential social exchange. The etching participates in the aesthetic category of the ‘picturesque,’ which was extremely fashionable in Britain at that time. The picturesque involved an ideal of natural beauty, with an emphasis on the rural or pastoral. It also romanticized the figure of the wandering peasant, a figure of rural simplicity, or the traveling artist, sketching nature and in search of sublime inspiration. By showing ordinary people interacting with nature, Edwards is subtly commenting on the role of landscape in shaping national identity and social values. The English landscape was increasingly seen as a source of national pride. Art historians research prints like this, comparing them to other examples and looking for the influence of institutions such as the Royal Academy, where Edwards exhibited. In this way, we can better understand how the art world helped create ideas about nationhood.