Thunderclouds with Landscape 18th-19th century

Editor: This is Franz Kobell's "Thunderclouds with Landscape," and it's held at the Harvard Art Museums. It feels almost ominous, a dramatic scene distilled in monochrome. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Look closely, and you'll notice the lack of human presence. How does that absence speak to the Romantic era’s changing views on nature's power and humanity’s place within it? These cloudscapes became popular as stand-alone studies, divorced from traditional landscape painting. Editor: So, it's less about a picturesque scene and more about the sublime force of nature itself? Curator: Precisely. Consider how images like this might reflect emerging scientific interests in meteorology, alongside cultural anxieties about industrialization. Editor: That makes me see it in a completely different light. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. It's fascinating how these works can be both artistic and historical documents.