Landschappen 1874 - 1875

Willem Cornelis Rip created this landscape drawing, called 'Landschappen' in Dutch, with graphite on paper sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Rip was working at a time when the Dutch art world was grappling with questions of national identity and artistic authenticity. The Hague School, with its emphasis on realism and rural landscapes, sought to define a distinctly Dutch aesthetic. How did this environment shape Rip’s artistic choices, and how did his work reflect or challenge prevailing artistic norms? Although Rip was clearly schooled in the tradition of landscape painting, this sketch is more experimental, more fragmented, and perhaps more modern than traditional landscapes. More archival research would be needed to better understand the cultural milieu in which Rip was working, including exhibition reviews, private correspondence, and the records of art academies and societies.