About the Work
The 22-year-old Peter Burnitz took this landscape sketchbook with him on a journey through Switzerland in 1846 which, during his time as a law student, led him from Heidelberg via the canton of Basel-Landschaft to the western Three-Lakes Region and the canton of Bern and then to central Switzerland. On this route, Burnitz drew almost exclusively mountain landscapes with huts, castles or villages in pencil. He also captured views of Lakes Biel, Thun, Lucerne and Zug, as well as the buildings on their shores and the mountains rising behind them. Only occasionally did he study trees removed from the landscape context or close-ups of terrain and rock sections. Burnitz sometimes shaded the outlines of the drawings, some of which were quickly drawn, while others were more elaborate, with dense pencil hatching or coloured them with a brush in subtle shades of blue and grey.
For a full sketchbook description, please see “Research”.
