Near St Loretto 8 - 1845

Friedrich Metz’s pencil drawing, Near St Loretto, captures a quaint Italian scene, which invites us to consider the cultural fascination with the Italian landscape during his time. The image presents a humble dwelling nestled amidst rugged terrain. It evokes a sense of the picturesque, a concept that gained popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The picturesque celebrated the beauty found in untamed nature and the simplicity of rural life, often contrasting it with the artificiality of urban settings. The choice of subject and medium reflects the cultural context of early 19th-century Europe, where artists and intellectuals were increasingly drawn to the aesthetic and spiritual qualities of the natural world. This was also fueled by the grand tour, during which Northern European aristocrats and artists would travel to Italy to experience its landscape. To understand the artwork better, we would look at travel literature, art criticism, and social history of the period to explore the prevailing attitudes towards nature, culture, and national identity.