Landscape

follower of Gillis van Coninxloo Netherlandish
Attributed to Paul Bril Netherlandish

late 16th, early 17th century

Not on view

In its unfinished state, this pen and gouache landscape has an almost ghost-like appearance. This is partly due to the strong contrast of the colors on the brown paper. Originally, however, the sheet would have had a very different appearance: the edges of the drawing show that the paper actually was blue, but has discolored due to the exposure to sunlight. In its original state, the gouaches therefore would not have stood out as much, and the drawing would have been more legible and appealing.

The anonymous author of this landscape was clearly influenced by the works of the Dutch painter Gillis Coninxloo. Coninxloo worked in the early 1600s and was a pivotal figure in the development of the forest landscape. His detailed and realistic forest interiors were a distinct move away from the fanciful mannerist mountain valleys of earlier decades. Various prints after Coninxloo’s designs were made, increasing the dispersal of his inventions and these were an important means for the dispersal of his inventions.

It has the appearance that the author of this drawing composed the landscape by assembling various visual elements, deriving from these engravings. Coninxloo’s Landscape with Samson Killing the Lion, for example, shows a strikingly similar castle on a hilltop with various arched structures surrounding it. The Landscape with the Judgement of Paris , likewise depicts cottages along a forest edge, resembling the ones in our drawing.[1]

Another indication that this might be the work of a copyist is the fact that the draftsman seems to have been preoccupied with the delineation of the outlines of the structures he depicted. His cautious lines lack the freedom of an original designer, whose creative process would have shown less premeditation. Clearly, the drawing was left unfinished. Possibly the stains of spilled paint in the upper right led the artist to discard the sheet.

[1] This comparison was made by W. Wegner, ‘Zeichnungen von Gillis van Coninxloo und seiner Nachfolge’, Oud Holland LXXXII (1967), p. 215 and 221.