Rechts bei hohem Felsen eine Burg, vorne eine Brücke über einem Wasserfall 

Jan Asselijn’s landscape drawing was made with graphite and ink on paper, sometime in the first half of the 17th century. The materials themselves are modest, yet the effect is quite grand: a sweeping vista of a European landscape, complete with herdsmen and a distant castle. Look closely, and you’ll see the deftness with which Asselijn has used his media. He coaxes a full tonal range from his pen and graphite, from the dark foreground to the misty heights of the mountains beyond. But what is most interesting to me is the social dimension to the work. Here we have a vision of nature filtered through the lens of human activity. The herdsmen traversing the bridge suggest labor. We also see power, in the form of the fortified castle above. By bringing these elements together, Asselijn reminds us that even the most apparently ‘natural’ scenes are the result of human intervention and social structures.