Woodland Scene
Sunlight filters through a forest’s canopy, casting shadows along the dirt road in the foreground and creating warm, light-filled gaps that draw the viewer further into the scene. The large scale and masterful treatment of light is unusual for Westenberg, a painter better known for his views of Dutch city streets and interiors. The artist likely originally sketched the scene in black chalk out in nature and then completed the sheet with gray ink and wash in the studio. An inscription on the verso suggests that it depicts the Haagse Bos, one of the oldest remaining forested areas in the Netherlands. Westenberg initialed and dated the drawing on the tree to the left as though the marks had been carved into its trunk.
Artwork Details
- Title: Woodland Scene
- Artist: Pieter George Westenberg (Dutch, Nijmwegen 1791–1873 Brummen)
- Date: 1819
- Medium: Brush and gray ink and wash over black chalk
- Dimensions: sheet: 15 1/4 x 12 15/16 in. (38.7 x 32.8 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2006
- Object Number: 2006.192
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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