Baumreiche Landschaft mit zwei Schafen im Vordergrund 

Ramsay Richard Reinagle created this landscape drawing with graphite. Reinagle lived during a period when the British Empire was expanding, and the concept of the pastoral became intertwined with notions of land ownership, national identity, and romantic ideals. In this seemingly quiet scene, one can sense a constructed vision of nature, shaped by human intervention and control. The two sheep in the foreground are emblems of rural harmony. But are they also reminders of the economic structures related to the raising of livestock and agricultural practices that have shaped the British landscape? Reinagle was born in the late 1700s, when ideas about landscape began to reflect societal anxieties around industrialization and urbanization. This drawing invites us to reflect on our relationship with the environment, and the complex layers of meaning we assign to the natural world. What feelings does the landscape evoke in you?