Studie van drie bomen 1778 - 1839

Editor: We’re looking at Hendrik Voogd's "Study of Three Trees," a pencil drawing from the late 18th or early 19th century, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. The sketch has a very delicate and gentle mood. What can you tell us about this artwork and how it fits into the context of its time? Curator: This work is a great example of how artists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were engaging with nature, and more specifically, how the landscape and our place within it began to represent something new. We see this artist studying individual trees, noting the details in their form, and texture, signaling a shift in perception. Do you notice any indication that suggests to whom this new vision appealed? Editor: Perhaps a more educated audience, with developing aesthetic ideas around the natural world? Curator: Precisely! Consider how the rise of landscape art coincides with growing social and political interest in land ownership and cultivation, a very complex interaction, and that the cultural value of pristine landscapes are often built on complex social issues, where access might not be equitable. How do you think an image like this contributed to shaping those ideas? Editor: It's interesting to think about the link between artistic representation and those broader socio-political concerns, about access, cultivation and ownership, and even how they might contribute to shaping ideas around nature’s inherent value. Curator: Yes, these landscape drawings also speak to emerging national identities and how these are closely bound to specific places and landscapes, in terms of agriculture and industry. Even this seemingly simple tree study is enmeshed within wider discourses and social power structures. Editor: This artwork prompted a whole new way of looking at seemingly simple landscape drawing, I'll never view it the same way. Curator: It's all about connecting the dots, isn't it?