Gebouwen aan een meer en drie kinderen 1840

Johannes Tavenraat created this pencil drawing of buildings and children at an undetermined date. The loose sketch captures three children and a lakeside view, likely made outdoors. Tavenraat worked in the Netherlands in the nineteenth century, a time when Dutch art was preoccupied with representations of everyday life and the natural world. His choice of subject reflects these prevailing tastes. The nineteenth-century art world was increasingly shaped by formal art academies that taught artists to draw in a realistic style. The looser, less finished style of this work shows the ways in which artists would often use sketching to experiment outside of the more regulated, formal studio setting. By studying the history of art institutions and the prevailing social attitudes of the time, art historians can better understand not only how art was made, but also how art was used to reinforce certain cultural values.