Gebirgslandschaft mit zwei Wasserfällen 

Franz Kobell made this landscape with two waterfalls using pen and brown ink with gray wash. The washes create a sense of depth and atmosphere. Kobell's choice of the brown ink gives the landscape a warm, earthy tone, reminiscent of classical landscape painting, yet the swift lines mark a new sensibility, born of Romanticism. He would have first lightly sketched out the composition, then gone over it with a pen, adding details like the trees and rocky crags. The gray wash would have been applied in layers to build up shadows and create a sense of volume. The drawing is of a high artistic standard, but also depicts an appreciation for the rural life of labor and the working classes in the landscape. The labor is gently pastoral. Paying attention to the materials and processes used by artists like Kobell helps us to see how art and craft are intertwined, and how art is always shaped by the social and cultural context in which it is made.