Sydfransk bjerglandskab med bevoksning i forgrunden (øverste halvdel af dobbeltsidet skitse) 1912

This sketch of a Southern French mountain landscape, made by J.A. Jerichau II, captures more than just a scenic view; it evokes the soul’s yearning for the sublime. Note how the horizon line divides the composition, setting up an earthly foreground and an ethereal sky. This division reminds us of similar compositions dating back to antiquity, where earthly existence is separated from the divine realm. In the foreground, the foliage is sketched with quick, nervous lines – a raw, immediate capture of nature’s vitality. These vegetative motifs, emblems of life, resonate across cultures. Consider the sacred groves of ancient Greece, or the symbolic trees in medieval tapestries, each echoing a deep-seated human connection to nature's life-giving force. There is an underlying tension, a psychological push and pull between what is immediate and what is eternal. Like a recurring dream, it resurfaces, transformed yet familiar, in the landscapes of art history.