Landscape with a Moated Village Flanders

Landscape with a Moated Village

1559–61

Master of the Small Landscapes

(Flemish)

Flanders

pen and brown ink; framing lines in brown ink (bottom)

Support: Beige(1) laid paper

Sheet: 16.7 x 31.2 cm (6 9/16 x 12 5/16 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund by exchange 1929.552

Location: not on view

You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Did You Know?

The false signature "P. BREUGHEL" refers to Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1529–1565) but reverses the usual order of "u-e" in the artist's name.

Description

The so-called small landscapes published in Antwerp in the late 1550s constitute a turning point in the history of landscape as a genre. This drawing and its related print (1964.404) from the series present the local countryside in a simple, unembellished composition from a level point of view. The artist portrayed the rustic village, pasture, and country road in a straightforward and immediate fashion. The title page for the series, issued by publisher Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp, advertised that the views were made “from the life” (naer d’leven), thus are real places directly observed. Such humble sites would define the golden age of Dutch landscape in the following century.