Berglandschap met een rivier 1754 - 1791

Jan Hendrik Troost van Groenendoelen made this landscape drawing with pen in the 18th century. The character of the drawing is dependent on the artist’s skilled hand. The pen is used in simple strokes to illustrate the landscape, and the ink creates tonal variation through a more or less intense application. Line is the main element to illustrate texture and shadow. The drawing depicts a romantic landscape and a meandering river. A lone figure looks out over a dramatic vista, with trees hanging from a mountainous rock, and the composition is a romantic and picturesque scene. It seems likely that the artist was highly skilled to produce the drawing. Considered now, we might think about the artist as a kind of pre-industrial manufacturer, with a studio of assistants, producing images for a consuming public. This challenges the notion of “fine art” as somehow separate from the world of production and consumption.