Roekenkolonie in Noord-Brabant 1842

Johannes Tavenraat made this watercolor of a rook colony in Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands sometime in the mid-19th century. At this time, landscape painting was a well-established genre. The public role of landscape painting was to express the unique character and national identity of the Netherlands. But unlike many of his contemporaries, Tavenraat does not focus on the picturesque aspects of the land. Here, the subtle colors of the land blend into the sky above, creating a muted, understated image. The rooks gather above a copse of trees, a motif in Dutch painting that evokes notions of community. But it does so without any sense of sentimentality. To understand the cultural context in which Tavenraat was working, one would want to look at images of the Dutch landscape in popular print culture. This would help to better understand how Tavenraat both participated in, and diverged from, the artistic conventions of his time.