Lorch am Rhein 

Peter Becker made this pencil drawing of Lorch am Rhein at an unknown date. Here we see a quaint German town nestled in the Rhine valley, its church steeple prominently piercing the sky. The scene evokes a sense of idyllic harmony and a romantic vision of the German landscape. Germany in the 19th century was undergoing rapid social and political change. Industrialization was underway, and there was growing interest in German history and folklore. The image looks back nostalgically to pre-industrial society; an organic and spiritual wholeness that seems threatened by the forces of modernization. It promotes a vision of social cohesion rooted in the natural landscape. Becker studied at the Städel School in Frankfurt, suggesting that this drawing reflects the values of institutional art training, which prized observational skills and a certain idealization of nature. Art historical research can reveal how the artist has both embraced and challenged these social and institutional expectations.