Incantation Scene from "Der Freischutz"
1584
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1584
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
This sketch shows a wild, tangled scene with rough lines and shading. Trees twist upward like claws, and a hunched figure kneels near a dark, lumpy shape—maybe a hut or a beast. The whole drawing feels hurried, with quick strokes and smudges. Some words are scrawled in the middle, but they’re hard to read. The artist used lots of overlapping lines to build up shadows and texture, a trick called *cross-hatching*. It’s like layering pencils to make things look solid. Next, check out cross-hatching to see how this technique works in other drawings.
![View through the Trees at Tivoli [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/982b0e365e4ea403/thumb.webp)
