Albumblad met twee voorstellingen van bomen vol bladeren: links het ontwerp, rechts de uitvoering 1816

Max Josef Wagenbauer made this album leaf with two images of trees, one a preparatory drawing and the other a finished study, using pen and brown ink. Wagenbauer was born in Bavaria, Germany, during the late 18th century, a time of burgeoning interest in natural history and the rise of landscape art as an independent genre. It is hard to know for sure, but given the institutional context of art academies and the scientific interests of the Enlightenment, this drawing may have been made as an exercise in observation and botanical accuracy. The careful rendering of foliage and the contrast between the sketch and the finished study suggest an emphasis on close observation of nature. The drawing could be better understood by researching the artistic conventions of landscape drawing in Germany at this time. Archival research into the records of art academies might reveal whether studies such as this one were part of a formal curriculum. In this way, we can see how institutions and artistic practices shape the representation of nature.