OCR Text |
Show 109 atmosphere he intended to relay, as it conveyed the sense of abandonment to nature by a mysterious, ancient, and lost culture, that the sight of the formations instilled in both the artist and in Maximilian. It was no accident, then, that when the image was translated into aquatint, it retained all of the romance of the original watercolor. Bodmer's involvement in the European travelbook industry, his reliance upon its established conventions, and the influence this tradition had upon the development of the landscape aquatint of the White Castles can be better understood by following the events that occurred after Maximilian and Bodmer returned to Europe. Bodmer did not immediately set to work on the aquatints for Travels upon his return to Germany in 1834. It would be almost three years before the proofs for the first issue of plates were completed and sent to Maximilian for approval. The delays that intervened are integral to the understanding of Bodmer's Tableau 37, The White Castles and of the aquatints as a whole, for these delays not only explain some of Bodmer's expectations and his methods of work, but also allow Bodmer to be placed in context with his contemporaries-a small but very active group of illustrators of the picturesque travelbook genre during the early decades of the nineteenth century. In the summer of 1834, while Maximilian organized what remained of his specimens-most of which had been lost on the return joumey--and started writing his book, Bodmer left Maximilian's residence at Neuwied for nearby Coblenz. Maximilian expected Bodmer to start work immediately on the task of completing his watercolor paintings, many of which were still unfinished, while Maximilian searched for a publisher and finalized his notes of the |