Næss i Aasen Nord for Trondheim 1763 - 1809

This print of Næss in Nord-Trondheim was made by Elias Meyer, probably around the turn of the nineteenth century. It shows an idyllic view of rural Norway. We see small wooden buildings, trees, rocks, water, and a boat with figures in it. It is a seemingly simple image but it resonates with contemporary ideas about the relationship between landscape, culture, and national identity. Norway was then under Danish rule and artists played a key role in imagining a distinct Norwegian identity. Through the aesthetic codes of the picturesque, an idea then circulating across Europe, Meyer’s image constructs Norway as a land of simple, unspoiled beauty, an idea that would have been very attractive at this time. To understand it fully, we need to look at the broader context of art and nation-building. Prints and paintings were critical tools in shaping perceptions of national identity in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. We can learn a lot about the image’s social context by looking at the history of printmaking, and the political history of Norway in this period.