Landschap 1846

Willem Roelofs made this landscape drawing with pen in grey-brown and watercolour. Roelofs belonged to a group of artists who, in the mid-19th century, left their studios to paint in the open air. These painters of 'en plein air' sought to represent nature as realistically as possible. They were part of a broader social movement to appreciate the raw beauty of the Dutch landscape, which had long been ignored in favour of more classical ideals. Roelofs, however, seems to have been interested in depicting the modern landscape, with signs of human habitation present in his composition. He paid close attention to the effects of light and atmosphere and the role of the natural world in everyday life. To learn more about Roelofs, we can consult exhibition catalogues from his lifetime and more recent studies of 19th-century Dutch art. By contextualizing artworks in this way, we see them as products of specific social and cultural forces.