Landschaft 

Joseph Anton Koch painted this small landscape, titled 'Landschaft', using oil on canvas. Koch painted at a time when artists were seeking a new kind of visual language that would accurately reflect the natural world. But the natural world has always been subject to social forces. Here we have the depiction of a leisure activity - hunting - that would have been available to some and not to others, and which is now the subject of all kinds of controversy. This image, which probably dates from the early nineteenth century, can be read in relation to the growing European Romantic movement. One approach might be to compare its representations of nature with the pastoral poetry of the period. But equally, it can be located within the history of debates around nature and society. Understanding this history relies on research, for example, looking at periodicals or books from the period. This helps us to see how Koch’s art was framed in relation to questions about our relationship with the natural world.