Rastende unter einer Eiche am Waldrand 

Curator: This is Johann Ludwig Ernst Morgenstern's "Resting Under an Oak at the Edge of the Forest," a pencil, pen, chalk, and charcoal drawing on paper, housed here at the Städel Museum. Editor: My initial reaction is a hushed reverence. The soft grays and whites give it a dreamy quality, like looking at a memory. It's so delicately rendered. It seems so peaceful at first glance. Curator: "Peaceful"...interesting. While there's a surface-level idyll to it, there are nuances at play. Think about the era this *kind of* gestures to – it’s hard to pinpoint, but say 18th-century. Genre paintings like these often masked a more complex social commentary, didn't they? Who do you think are these people, what were they doing there? Are we sure that their rest is a welcome respite, not a consequence of social issues or exploitation? Editor: That's true, the figures do look like a mix of different "classes," don’t they? It seems pastoral and harmonious until you begin to ask, who *really* gets to rest under that tree, and at whose expense? I love that the artist has grouped them so that no easy answer is apparent. He clearly understood hierarchies and the subtle drama within groups, especially around the edges of cultivated areas. Curator: Precisely. And look at the light – it isn't uniformly distributed, but broken, dappled. Just as social advantages, even a brief respite, were not uniform. Those lounging may be exhausted or injured and unable to provide labor to a farm or to hunt, it is ambiguous, as is their rest and status under that large old oak tree. Perhaps it is more of an exile from somewhere else. Editor: And notice how Morgenstern doesn't idealize the scene; he presents a certain...discomfort, or ambiguity, that lingers beneath the pretty facade. This "resting" comes at a cost. Also, there's that hunter on the horse… He’s set apart, literally, at the edges of the group. Is he the enforcer, ensuring that “rest” doesn't become rebellion? I am sure about that! Curator: Perhaps. Maybe, there's more sorrow to all that than we realize. I'm leaving here now pondering the rest these individuals seek is not what we’re led to believe when we begin. Editor: Exactly. This artwork challenges us to look beyond the surface of bucolic life and examine the socio-political context. That's what makes it resonant even now. The image resonates. Let's go see if they have a guide with them in the bookshop!