Strathendrick and Loch Lomond 1888

David Young Cameron made this etching, "Strathendrick and Loch Lomond," sometime in the early twentieth century. It depicts the Scottish countryside. Cameron was a part of the British Etching Revival, which saw artists turn to printmaking to capture both the sublime and the everyday. In this work, we see a panoramic view of Scotland's landscape, but it is the sheep in the foreground that capture my attention. Their presence speaks to the historical realities of land use and ownership in Scotland, particularly the Highland Clearances, which saw tenant farmers displaced to make way for sheep farming. The image is tinged with the complicated relationship between the land, its people, and the economic forces that shape their lives. The artist does not give us a romanticized view; instead, the landscape is rendered with a stark beauty, hinting at the stories of those who have lived and worked on this land.