Artwork

Facsimiles of Sketches Made in Flanders and Germany: On the Walls, Cologne

Facsimiles of Sketches Made in Flanders and Germany: On the Walls, Cologne is a print by the Romanticist artist Samuel Prout. It dates from 1833 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

About this work

Overview

This print, 'Facsimiles of Sketches Made in Flanders and Germany: On the Walls, Cologne', is a lithograph by a prominent landscape watercolorist and printmaker. It depicts a weathered wall in Cologne, adorned with casual chalk drawings.

Subject & Meaning

The artwork captures a crumbling wall bearing various graffiti, including sketches of animals and buildings. The subject is not a direct observation from life, but rather a reproduction of ephemeral marks found on the wall during travels.

Technique & Style

The print's tone is achieved through a combination of printing on pale gray paper and adding highlights by hand with white gouache, creating a sense of light and shadow. This technique, related to chiaroscuro, gives the image a sense of depth and visual interest.

History & Provenance

The print is part of a tradition of topographical prints that gained popularity in England, inspired by the beauty of landscapes and facilitated by post-Napoleonic travel. Such prints were often published in sets, allowing patrons to experience distant places vicariously.

Artist & collection

Artist

Samuel Prout

Samuel Prout (; 17 September 1783 – 10 February 1852) was a British watercolourist, and one of the masters of watercolour architectural painting, who largely invented the genre of the grand steet scene in British…