Weiter Blick über die Sabiner Berge 1830 - 1831

Editor: This is "Weiter Blick über die Sabiner Berge," or "Distant View of the Sabine Mountains," a pencil drawing made between 1830 and 1831 by August Lucas. It's so delicate, almost ethereal. I’m struck by the contrast between the detailed landscape and the seemingly random sketches at the bottom. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It’s intriguing to consider Lucas's material conditions here. Pencil, a relatively inexpensive and easily portable medium, allowed for studies en plein air. The choice of pencil points to accessibility and immediacy. But look closer, the materiality of the paper itself—likely locally sourced—and the very act of rubbing graphite onto it, embodies a form of claiming space, both physically and conceptually. How might Lucas's economic status have shaped the scene represented and the very process by which he documented it? Editor: That’s a good point. The pencil gives the artwork a sketch-like, draft feel. Would he be able to capture as much details as he did with pencil than with any other drawing medium at the time? Curator: It is likely that Lucas uses a graphite pencil, made using local plumbago, the mineral commonly used in pencils. This pencil enabled a preliminary sketch of a far grander vista of Italy’s Sabine Hills. Think about that raw material extracted from the earth, processed, and then used to represent that same earth. There’s a direct relationship, a cycle of resource and representation that reveals the human imprint on the landscape. And I notice writing at the lower right. I wonder if that's the artist's own script, revealing intentions? Editor: You're right. It does make you wonder about the economic realities faced by landscape artists during that period. It’s about more than just seeing a landscape; it’s about the entire process of making it and living in that space. Curator: Exactly.