Mountain Landscape, Stamberger See 1870 - 1871

Editor: This is John Singer Sargent’s "Mountain Landscape, Stamberger See," a pencil drawing. It feels very quiet and still. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Sargent, known for his society portraits, here engages with the Romantic tradition of landscape. How does this quiet scene, devoid of human figures, participate in the 19th-century discourse about the sublime and the relationship between humanity and nature? Editor: It’s interesting to think about it as part of that bigger conversation. It seems so personal. Curator: Exactly! And consider the context of the rise of tourism and leisure in the late 19th century. Could this drawing be seen as a personal reflection on that phenomenon? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way. It gives me a lot to consider about the role of landscape in art.