Træstudie 1837 - 1839

Dankvart Dreyer made this pencil drawing, titled "Træstudie," in Denmark sometime in the first half of the 19th century. Dreyer was a landscape painter, trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Consider the cultural context of 19th-century Denmark. This was a time of national romanticism, when artists turned to nature to construct a sense of national identity. What might seem like an objective study of a tree is also part of a project to define a specific and unique Danish landscape. Dreyer was also part of an institutional system, the Academy, which had a powerful effect on what kind of art was made and how it was valued. As art historians, we use a range of resources to understand the social and cultural forces at play in the creation of an artwork. We can consult archives of letters and exhibition reviews. We can also look at the history of institutions like the Royal Danish Academy. This helps us to see the history of art as deeply connected to wider social and institutional contexts.