Landschaft mit Bildstock bei Civitella, dem heutigen Bellegra 1832

August Lucas sketched this landscape with a pencil in Civitella, now Bellegra. The vista features a ‘Bildstock,’ or wayside shrine, a common feature in the rural, often Catholic, landscapes of 19th-century Europe. These shrines served as public markers of faith, but also as social gathering points. Lucas, a German artist, was working within a period that saw a rise in landscape painting, fueled by both Romantic ideals and burgeoning tourism. His sketch captures the Italian countryside, but it also hints at the intersection of religious practice and public space. The shrine isn't merely a backdrop; it's a testament to the cultural values embedded in the land. To fully understand Lucas's work, one might explore travel accounts, religious histories, and studies of landscape art from the period. Doing so will reveal the social functions of art and the public life of religious images.