A Landscape with a Great Tree 

Herman van Swanevelt made this landscape with pen and brown ink, and brown wash, on paper. These are fairly traditional art materials, but Swanevelt’s technique gives the scene its particular character. The brown wash is applied in broad, sweeping strokes that define the light and shadow, giving volume to the trees and hills. The pen work is more precise, used to add detail and texture. Look closely and you can see the way the artist used hatching and cross-hatching to create a sense of depth and atmosphere. The quick, confident strokes of the pen suggest that Swanevelt was a skilled draughtsman, confident in his ability to capture the essence of the landscape. The work has an immediacy that suggests it may have been made *en plein air*, directly from nature. This was a common practice for landscape artists of the time, who sought to capture the beauty and grandeur of the natural world. Paying attention to materials, making, and context allows us to understand the artist's vision, and challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.