The Devil’s Bridge in the Schöllenen Gorge on the Way across the St. Gotthard Pass with a Mule Train, Peter Birmann
Pen, brush, gray and brown inks.
Link is to zoomable version on the Google Art Project; downloadable version on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Albertina, Vienna.
Though the rendering is distinctly european, the subject, style and compositional treatment of this piece — in which humans are dwarfed against a dramatic mountain landscape enlivened by a stream and trees — seems very much influenced by Chinese ink painting (or similar arts from Korea or Japan).
I don’t know enough about the piece or the artist to have background on the specific influences, but art from Japan and China was being widely imported to Europe in the 19th century, with dramatic effect on many European artists.
I might also suggest that, like the work of his possible inspirations in eastern Asia, this piece might be called an “ink painting”.
I love the intricate rendering of the rock face and foreground hillside, as well as the delicate suggestion of the misty gorge — a study in nuanced value throughout.
