Plaats 'Vergenoegd' van de heer Lochner Possibly 1786 - 1789

Here we see 'Plaats Vergenoegd van de heer Lochner', made in 1790 by Jan Brandes. The work presents a landscape split across the pages of what appears to be a sketchbook, rendered with delicate washes of watercolor and precise linework. The composition is neatly divided into horizontal bands, each conveying depth through subtle shifts in tone and detail. The eye is drawn across the open book format, scanning from the human activity in the lower foreground, through the verdant middle ground, towards the distant, pale mountains. Brandes employs this structure to articulate space and distance, yet the division also encourages us to reflect on how such structured views may flatten the complexities of lived experience within this landscape. The materiality of the sketchbook itself—its binding, paper, and the handwritten notes—introduce another layer of interpretation. They remind us that this image is both a representation of space and an object embedded in time, inviting us to consider how the artist's hand mediates our understanding of the world.