Landscape 

Curator: Wow, talk about atmosphere. I’m immediately struck by how dramatic this landscape is, all done with such meticulous lines! It's like a dreamscape captured in monochrome. Editor: You’re absolutely right! It's one of a few landscape drawings by Albrecht Altdorfer, likely created in the early 16th century. There are few of Altdorfer's drawings and prints surviving that fit into such categories as pure landscape, so to encounter one, to consider the implications of the emergence of such images during the Northern Renaissance, can reveal so much. This is a drawing done in ink, potentially designed for a woodcut, given the intense level of detail that could translate to that printing method. Curator: A woodcut, you say? That explains the almost brutal precision! But look at that swirling sky, and how that contrasts against the solid mass of the mountain range and how they stand as bulwarks to what lies beneath. To me, this is all about the sublime terror and the serenity of nature. Editor: Exactly! And thinking of Altdorfer’s historical and geographical position, nestled in Bavaria, allows us to examine the artwork as part of burgeoning European concerns about man's impact upon an already formidable landscape. His landscapes often hint at the wild and untamed aspects of nature which were simultaneously being romanticized and subjugated. The detail is intense; so how could he make something with this level of expression? He created and participated in a philosophical shift towards experiencing our environs in ways that reflect the individual, and that meant considering his own impact. Curator: You put that into perspective so well! Thinking about our position today, confronted by environmental change, I'm struck by the way Altdorfer shows us, even back then, this tension. The clouds gathering overhead even suggest the storms that threaten that lower, central cluster of houses. Editor: It’s a powerful vision! The play of light and shadow certainly brings out the texture of the tree and the rocks, offering a hyper-realistic view that then contrasts sharply with the miniaturized vista below it of town life. This level of landscape as a central image allows its audience the opportunity to rethink their connections to all places. Curator: So, in the end, do we leave understanding that nature is indifferent to our human drama? I’m fascinated how much this tiny work still stirs up. Editor: Absolutely. These works by Altdorfer are touchstones. I’ll need to come back and see this one again.