Fotoreproductie van een tekening, voorstellende Cephalus doodt Prokris met een speer before 1868

This drawing of trees was made as a reproduction for a book on tree-drawing, a popular subject for amateur artists. In 19th-century Europe, art academies and popular books codified landscape drawing as a vital skill, especially for the middle classes. The popularity of tree-drawing speaks to larger shifts in society. Industrialization and urbanization led to a growing interest in the natural world, seen as an escape from the pressures of modern life. But in a time when a great deal of emphasis was being placed upon scientific accuracy and observation, landscape painting also became a source of national pride, and its educational institutions played a key role in shaping artistic tastes and skills. To understand this image fully, you could explore drawing manuals of the time, along with social histories of amateur art and the changing relationship between people and the natural world. The meaning of a simple drawing is contingent on its cultural context.