Stronken van beukenbomen 1861 - 1869

Johannes Tavenraat created this drawing of beech tree trunks with pencil and brush. The early 19th century, when Tavenraat was working, was a time of burgeoning Romanticism, when nature came to be viewed not just as a resource but as a source of spiritual and emotional experience. But the artist’s choice to focus on tree trunks—the base, the support system—invites us to consider the unseen foundations that uphold such idealized views of nature. What labor, what history, is embedded in these landscapes? The gnarled surfaces of the trunks evoke a sense of time and endurance, but also hint at the potential violence of natural forces. As you look, consider what is revealed and what remains hidden in our understanding of the natural world.