Landscape with Dead Tree 1783

Editor: This is John Trumbull’s Landscape with Dead Tree. It’s a small pencil drawing. It feels pretty desolate, honestly. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: Desolate is a good word. I think it speaks to the sublime. Trumbull, born in 1756, had seen war, revolution. Maybe this tree is a metaphor. A beautiful, gnarled thing, but ultimately, lifeless. What do you make of the figures down by the river? Editor: I hadn't really focused on them. They seem so small compared to the landscape. Maybe they're meant to emphasize how vast and indifferent nature is? Curator: Precisely! It makes me think about the impermanence of life, the echoes of history in even the quietest landscape. Does it change how you see the drawing now? Editor: Definitely. It's less about despair and more about perspective. I wouldn’t have noticed that at first glance. Thanks!