Landscape, after Claude 1806 - 1816

Johan Baptist Stuntz made this drawing, Landscape, after Claude, in 1811. Here, we see the influence of the old masters like Claude Lorrain in shaping artistic taste and production in the 19th century. During that time, art academies across Europe prescribed the imitation of classical models. This practice reinforced a canon of aesthetic values tied to power and tradition. Stuntz’s drawing is an explicit act of homage to the earlier artist. It is made during the height of the Napoleonic era, when institutions such as museums played an important role in constructing national identities. The act of copying was a way of internalizing and perpetuating this cultural legacy. Art historians can look at the institutional histories of academies, museums, and collections to understand the social conditions that shaped artistic production at the time. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.