Tre træsnit efter J. Th. Lundbye. Medlemsblad fra Den Danske Radeerforening 1859

Carl Peter Theodor Rothweiler made this print, Tre træsnit efter J. Th. Lundbye. Medlemsblad fra Den Danske Radeerforening, in Denmark, but we don’t know exactly when. Here, Rothweiler makes woodcuts after the Danish painter Johan Thomas Lundbye, bringing together three seemingly disparate images on one page. In mid-nineteenth century Denmark, the art world saw the rise of national romanticism, an artistic and intellectual movement which sought to evoke the unique qualities of the nation through its landscape and folklore. Rothweiler’s print reveals the institutional context of this movement. It was made as a “membership sheet” for the etching society, suggesting the importance of artistic societies in promoting a unified artistic style. To better understand this print, one could investigate the membership records of the etching society, as well as looking at Lundbye’s paintings, and other examples of national romanticism. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.