Baroniet Rosendal 1849

Hans Gude painted this scene of Baroniet Rosendal in watercolor, but the date of its creation is unknown. It is hard to look at this image without considering the social and cultural context in which it was created. Gude was Norwegian and a professor at the Academy of Art in Berlin for a long time. This means he existed in an institutional setting with its own tastes, rules and regulations about what art was supposed to be. The way the mountain dominates the image, and the way the house almost nestles in the landscape, speak to romantic ideas about nature. You get a sense that the painting is trying to depict an idealised relationship between nature and culture. In this way, the painting is conservative, supporting established institutional norms. As an art historian, I would want to research the histories of both landscape painting, and the Academy of Art, in order to understand better the various social forces that shaped this artwork.