Bergtoppen Possibly 1858 - 1859

Johannes Tavenraat created this pencil drawing of a mountain top, or Bergtoppen in Dutch, sometime in the mid-19th century. The Romantic era saw a fashion for sublime landscapes, but also for the scientific cataloging of the natural world. The clean lines and precise delineation of the rock face suggest that this work may have been intended as a record of a particular geological feature. Tavenraat was Dutch, and although mountain landscapes are not native to the Netherlands, the Dutch did have an Empire with colonies all over the world. Perhaps this drawing was made in the context of Dutch colonial expansion. Further research into Tavenraat's biography and the colonial history of the Netherlands in the 19th century might reveal the social context that motivated this image. Art is never made in a vacuum, and its meaning is always contingent on the social and institutional conditions that shape its production and reception.