Landscape with Bileam 

Here we see an unfinished drawing by Joseph Anton Koch, "Landscape with Bileam," currently residing in the Städel Museum. Koch lived through the turbulence of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period defined by both the Enlightenment and the rise of Romanticism. Koch, a Swiss artist who spent much of his career in Rome, was deeply influenced by the classical tradition while also drawn to the sublime power of nature. The story of Bileam, found in the Book of Numbers, is a tale of prophecy, divine intervention, and moral reckoning. Bileam, a pagan prophet, is hired to curse the Israelites, but God intervenes, sending an angel to block his path. Koch uses the grid to construct the landscape, with Bileam and the angel almost appearing to be in conflict. Koch’s emotional connection to the landscape, combined with his interpretation of biblical narrative, invites us to consider our own place within the natural and spiritual world.