Gewässer mit Bauernhäusern unter hohen Bäumen 

Curator: What a melancholic yet lovely scene. I’m drawn to this watercolor and drawing, “Gewässer mit Bauernhäusern unter hohen Bäumen”—“Waters with Farmhouses under Tall Trees"—created by Karl Peter Burnitz, currently held here at the Städel Museum. It evokes such a particular mood, doesn't it? Editor: It does. The overall tonal range is almost monochromatic, with layered grey and mauve washes across the paper. I wonder if this captures a very specific regional, or even temporal atmospheric condition. Curator: It very well could be. Burnitz, being a German artist, likely infused this scene with the romantic sensibility prevalent in his era. Think about the prevailing philosophies—the glorification of nature and the search for spiritual meaning in landscape, particularly as a nascent German national identity was coming into its own. Editor: That romantic bent makes me think about the paper itself as a resource. It would have been handmade, perhaps locally sourced near where he painted. Imagine the labor that went into even the support of the artwork; grinding pigments, preparing the size. Did Burnitz even grind the pigments? Or did he simply use readymade pigments for expediency’s sake? Curator: That’s a fantastic point! How the availability of materials influenced artistic choices in that time is interesting to consider. I tend to ponder the audience’s relationship with the image, and it does evoke a powerful yearning for simpler, pastoral times. The cottages nestled amongst those lofty trees, barely visible through the mist… Editor: True, though it also begs the question, for whom was this simplicity? Rural life was anything *but* idyllic for most; the labor intensive nature of the work and the limited ability to consume certainly speaks to a different sort of experience of the landscape than that of Burnitz or his patrons. Curator: Fair enough. Art isn’t made in a vacuum. Despite these potential societal inequities, I still find solace in the tranquility of it all, as art’s relationship with social justice waxes and wanes through different historical lenses. The reflective quality of the water and the artist’s adeptness at layering washes of color to give an atmospheric perspective. It makes one want to pause and savor this fleeting moment of calm, especially with such beautiful watercolor. Editor: The materials of production can obscure a great deal when it comes to questions of class and access, as the beautiful result we are faced with is a document of social inequalities both visible and invisible in landscape painting during the industrial revolution. Still, as you say, there's some lovely technical skill on display.