Capriccio with Antique Ruins c. 1730s

Johann Georg Böhm's "Capriccio with Antique Ruins" is a black chalk drawing, likely created during the 1730s, a short decade before his death in 1738. The drawing depicts a large architectural element with a broken pediment and a figure in the foreground. The use of hatching and cross-hatching in the drawing conveys the light and shadow play of the ruins. The image suggests a sense of ruin and decay, a common theme in Romantic art, emphasizing the passage of time and the impermanence of human endeavors.