Zwei lagernde Figuren in hügeliger Landschaft 

Franz Kobell made this drawing, Zwei lagernde Figuren in hügeliger Landschaft, using pen and brown ink over pencil on paper. Kobell, of Mannheim, was a landscape artist, and here we see him representing an idealized natural scene. The essence of the work is in his hand movements: the quick, sure marks of the pen, capturing light and shadow. Think about the labor involved in the production of paper and ink during the eighteenth century. Papermaking, while not always physically demanding, required knowledge and craft. Both paper and ink were essential to the administration of the state, as well as the creation of art. Kobell’s drawing uses these materials to evoke leisure, but the drawing itself also reflects a kind of labor – not just the artist’s, but the many hands that made his art possible. By considering the materials and making of artworks, we get a fuller picture of their social meaning and historical significance.