Huizen tussen bomen 1773 - 1843

Editor: So, here we have "Huizen tussen bomen," or "Houses Among Trees," a sketch attributed to Georges Michel, created sometime between 1773 and 1843, rendered in pencil and ink on paper. It strikes me as a very intimate glimpse, almost like peering into the artist's private sketchbook. What are your initial thoughts on it? Curator: It's tempting to romanticize that "intimate glimpse," but let's think about what landscape sketches represented in that period. The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw growing interest in landscape as a symbol of national identity and a site for leisure. How does this unassuming sketch possibly fit into these larger socio-cultural trends? Editor: I hadn't considered it that way. I suppose the sketch, despite its apparent simplicity, hints at an emerging bourgeois appreciation for rural scenery? A move from the city to be closer to nature? Curator: Precisely. And Michel’s choice of subject – simple houses nestled among trees – what does that evoke? It’s not grand architecture, nor a purely "wild" landscape, is it? It suggests something… Editor:… something cultivated? Like a negotiation between nature and human presence? Maybe this "in-between-ness" reflects broader societal changes? A longing for simplicity amid growing industrialization? Curator: Yes! We see the rising middle class, the influence of Enlightenment ideals championing a return to nature – though filtered through a bourgeois lens. Sketches like this also fueled the growing market for picturesque scenes, easily reproducible and available to a wider public. Think about how images like this, multiplied and distributed, shape perception of "nature" itself. Editor: That's fascinating. I was focused on the artistic process, but it is clear now that the seemingly simple landscape sketch has more historical, social, and cultural implications. Thank you for sharing! Curator: My pleasure. Thinking about art as actively shaped by, and also shaping, broader social currents is key to understanding its power.