Landschap met rechts twee figuren 1770

Johann Heinrich Müntz created this landscape drawing with ink and wash. The composition is structured by strong vertical tree trunks that frame a middle ground with two human figures. The figures are diminutive. Their inclusion, more than anything else, creates a sense of scale. This heightens the sense of the landscape’s depth, opening up a pictorial space and an atmospheric perspective, made all the more impressive by the tonal gradations of the wash. This all lends itself to an almost sublime reading of nature. But notice how the church spire on the horizon mirrors the form of the stark tree trunk on the left, thereby suggesting a kind of structural homology between nature and culture. Such formal mirroring asks us to reconsider the boundaries between the natural and the human-made. This drawing doesn't just depict a scene. It actively engages with how we perceive and categorize the world around us.