DescriptionThis drawing, the earliest known by Jan Brueghel the Elder, records the city of Heidelberg seen from the west across the Neckar River. The castle appears as it did before additions were made between 1590 and 1592. Brueghel's sketch dates from about 1588-89, when the artist traveled from Antwerp to Italy, arrriving in Naples in 1590. The definition of forms with a combination of short, vertical lines in fine pen, which in places are blurred, and the broadly applied translucent washes are characteristic, as is the composition. Brueghel made several drawings of Heidelberg and used motifs from these travel sketches in paintings such as the Allegory of Spring of 1611 (private collection, Scotland), which shows Heidelberg castle as it appears in a copy after a drawing by Brueghel in the Kurpfalzisches sketchbook (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart).

Signatures, Inscriptions, and MarkingsInscriptions: Verso, lower left, in graphite, and by a later hand: P.Brugel

ProvenanceR. W. P. de Vries (Amsterdam, 1841-1919)14 Dec. 1911, lot 1278 (?); Robert von Hirsch; Sotheby's, London , 20 June 1978, vol. I, lot 29; Kate Ganz, Ltd. (1991); Sotheby's, Amsterdam 17 Nov. 1993, lot 87; Vendor: Kate Ganz, Ltd.