Kerkhof te Ilsenburg in het Harzgebergte 1807 - 1861

Cornelis Steffelaar made this drawing of a cemetery in Ilsenburg in the Harz Mountains using pen and brush in gray. It belongs to a tradition of landscape art that became popular with the rise of Romanticism. Here, the cemetery becomes a stage for contemplation on mortality and the passage of time. The site merges nature and culture: we see a graveyard with tombstones overgrown with foliage and trees. These cemeteries became popular tourist destinations in the 19th century. They were no longer located next to the church, but at the edge of the city. The graveyard as a green space was part of a larger movement to transform the experience of death and mourning in modernizing European cities. To fully appreciate this image, we would need to research the history of burial grounds and of tourism in the Harz region. What was the attitude to death in the early 19th century? What can Steffelaar's drawing tell us about the institutions of art and the social conditions that shape the production of art?