Berglandschap c. 1891

Egbert Schaap made this delicate graphite sketch of a mountain landscape sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. Schaap, a Dutch artist, captures the essence of nature through an almost ephemeral rendering of rock formations and sparse vegetation. Born in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, Schaap's early life was steeped in the colonial context of the Dutch empire. You can almost feel his longing for the sublime beauty of untouched landscapes in this sketch, away from the social and political complexities of his time. Perhaps it speaks to a desire for an escape to a world where nature reigns supreme. The sketch possesses a quality of lightness, where the mountains seem to emerge from the very air, emphasizing a sense of freedom and the overwhelming grandeur of nature. It invites us to contemplate our own relationship with the environment.