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The image shows detailed sketches of tree trunks with precise lines depicting bark texture. The trunks and branches fill the frame with no visible horizon. The drawing style includes fine lines for leaves and branches. The color palette is muted with shades of grey. Fallen leaves and branches are depicted near the base of the trees, and thinner lines in the distance suggest more foliage.
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The image shows detailed sketches of tree trunks with precise lines depicting bark texture. The trunks and branches fill the frame with no visible horizon. The drawing style includes fine lines for leaves and branches. The color palette is muted with shades of grey. Fallen leaves and branches are depicted near the base of the trees, and thinner lines in the distance suggest more foliage.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

A Stand of Trees

Heinrich Dreber

Date
1840
Medium
pen and brown and gray ink over graphite, with stumped graphite, on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 44.1 x 28.8 cm (17 3/8 x 11 5/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
2007.111.70
Credit line
Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Helen Porter and James T. Dyke
Time span
1826 to 1850
Department
CG-E
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • German
  • Tree
  • Forest
  • Nature
Provenance

Estate of the artist. Professor Georg Schöne, Berlin; Professor Wolfgang Schöne [1910-1989], Hamburg; Wolfgang Ratjen, Munich; purchased 2007 by NGA.

Inscription

at lower left, dated in brown ink: 23. Juni 40, Nachmittags; at lower center (left): in den Tiefen schwarz/eindunkeln/grünbrünliche Farbe/in den Stämmen (darken the shadows with black/greenish brown/in the trunks); at lower center (right): Noch viel zierlicher u. schlanker/die Blättchen noch mehr perspektivisch/verkürzt/von der Sonne beleuchtete Spinnenweben (much more delicate and slender/the leaves more foreshortened/ spiderwebs catching the sunlight)

Watermarks

none

NGA object ID 139256. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.