Twee boslandschappen en een heuvellandschap met een ruïne c. 1864 - 1865

Here are three landscape sketches by Maria Vos, rendered with ink on paper. Vos, born in 1824, navigated a world in which women artists often found their work relegated to domestic or decorative spheres, thus landscape works were rare for women at the time. The sketches, with their soft washes of ink, evoke a sense of quietude and contemplation. Yet, they also hint at the societal constraints Vos might have experienced. The scenes are devoid of human presence save for two very small figures. Instead, the focus is on the land itself: the gentle undulation of hills, the dense canopy of trees, and the decaying architecture swallowed by nature. Vos invites us to consider our place within the landscape and hints at a subtle resistance to the gendered expectations of her time. In a world that often sought to confine women, she found freedom and expression in the boundless beauty of the natural world.