Landschap met een figuur op een weg tussen de bomen c. 1863 - 1864

Maria Vos made this landscape with a figure on a road between trees using graphite on paper. The most striking quality of graphite is its capacity to capture light and shadow. Note how Maria Vos used different grades of graphite, from hard to soft, to achieve a full range of tonal values. This created depth and volume with careful marks that allowed her to express the textures of foliage, the roughness of the road, and the overall atmosphere of the landscape. Although seemingly simple, landscape drawing traditions reflect a growing urban interest in the countryside during the 19th century. It romanticized nature at a time when the Industrial Revolution was rapidly transforming the landscape and social structures. In the end, it’s through the interplay of materials, making, and social context that we fully appreciate Maria Vos’ artwork. It prompts us to expand the boundaries of traditional art history by looking closely at the creative practices and aesthetics of fine arts and landscape.