Bomen in landschap met opkomende maan 1876 - 1910

Alphonse Stengelin made this landscape with trees and a rising moon using etching. The image invokes a specific set of historical meanings around the representation of nature. Made in France, this etching aligns with a broader artistic interest in landscape during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Barbizon School, for example, had been devoted to depicting nature in a realistic way and, in doing so, challenged the dominance of academic painting, which privileged historical and mythological subjects. The Impressionists took this interest even further by attempting to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. What we see in Stengelin's work is a continuation of this artistic tendency combined with the rise of printmaking as a medium to disseminate images. Art historians look to exhibition reviews, artists' letters, and sales records to reconstruct the meaning of art in its own time. In this way, the appreciation of art always involves situating it within broader social and institutional contexts.