Grazend paard van voren 1750 - 1809

David Alphonse de Sandoz-Rollin made this drawing of a grazing horse with pen and brown ink, likely sometime in the late 1700s. The artist has used hatching and cross-hatching techniques to suggest the horse’s rounded form, and the shadow it casts. These artistic techniques, using the simple materials of paper and ink, allowed for the relatively quick production of images. Draftsmanship like this was not only crucial to the fine arts of painting and sculpture, but also to the burgeoning fields of illustration and design. This was a period of immense social transformation, and the labor of artists began to shift from unique artworks to standardized images, circulating far and wide. By exploring the materials and processes, we can appreciate how this drawing embodies the social changes underway at the time it was made. It shows the beginnings of an industrialized visual culture, and a reconsideration of the role of the artist.