Berglandschap met herders op een rivieroever 1795 - 1821

Cornelis Brouwer made this landscape drawing with pen and brush in the late eighteenth century. The simple materials give the image a sense of immediacy, like a quick sketch dashed off in the field. Yet, it is also undeniably a studio picture, composed using time-honored methods. Notice how Brouwer has meticulously built up the image, using dilute washes of ink to establish a range of tones. He then accentuates these with darker pen lines. See how the stark white of the paper shines through in the clouds, the water, and the light-filled sky. This is a canny way to suggest luminosity. It's worth noting the social context here. While Brouwer depicts shepherds in the landscape, he himself was an urban artist, part of a growing class of professionals who made their living representing an idealized countryside. The labor of the rural economy, in other words, was grist for the mill of urban artistic production. By understanding the materials, the making process, and the social context, we gain a deeper appreciation of the drawing's layered meanings.