The Blue Grotto 30 - 1835

Carl Morgenstern created this pencil drawing of the Blue Grotto in Capri. The Blue Grotto had a long history before Morgenstern sketched it in the nineteenth century. It was known to the Romans, but then shunned for centuries. The rediscovery of the Blue Grotto in the 1820s was a media sensation. Morgenstern's drawing belongs to the tradition of landscape painting, which tied natural beauty to national identity. Capri, and Italy more generally, became a destination for Northern European artists in the nineteenth century, and images like these helped to popularize the idea of the Grand Tour. To understand this drawing, it is helpful to consider guidebooks, travelogues, and the records of institutions like the Städel Museum. The meaning of art always depends on its social and institutional context.