Skizze zur ‘Szene aus dem Tiroler Freiheitskampf’ 1840

This is Johann Peter Krafft’s sketch for ‘Scene from the Tyrolean Freedom Fight.’ It’s undated, but most likely comes from the early 19th century, a time of growing nationalism in Europe. Krafft was an Austrian artist who specialized in historical paintings, and this sketch reflects an interest in depicting the common folk, not just the aristocracy. You see a variety of headgear and faces here, studies of the kind of people who participated in the Tyrolean Rebellion against Napoleonic rule. The rebellion itself became a point of national pride, and Krafft's finished painting idealizes it, but this sketch provides insight into the artist's process of observing and documenting the visual culture of the time. The sketch itself tells us about the artistic institutions of the time. Academic artists often made preparatory drawings like this. It gives us a glimpse into how history paintings were made and how artists like Krafft contributed to the construction of national identity through their art. Historians look at such preliminary sketches to understand the making of an artwork in its social context.