A Forest Edge with Peasants and a Village in the Background; verso: Landscape Sketch

Through the curvature in its gnarled stem, the majestic tree at the right of this landscape draws our eye into the composition, past the seated peasant towards the figures standing in front of a large farmhouse, and further to the bell tower in the distance. The well-balanced composition was drawn in a combination of black chalk and gray washes by the Dutch artist Pieter Barbiers.

Barbiers was a member of a family of artists, working in Amsterdam, and started off as a painter of wall hangings - large ensembles of arcadian landscapes, used to decorate a drawing room. When around 1800 the interest in this art form started to wane, Barbiers directed his focus to making landscapes drawings, paintings and prints; imagery that was in high demand among contemporary collectors.

For his drawings, Barbiers used both lively watercolors and gouache as well as monochrome grey and black washes, which we see here. The artist first loosely delineated the landscape in black chalk. By adjusting the pressure applied on the chalk, Barbiers obtained different densities, through which effects in chiaroscuro and depth were obtained. To render the more global lighting effects of sunlight, Barbiers applied various gradations of gray wash, thereby also reinforcing the legibility of the general composition; the brightly lit foreground divides the composition in two and draws our attention first to the seated figure and then to the figures and farmhouse.

The reverse of the sheet shows the outlines of a landscape, scantily drawn in black chalk – an attempt at a new composition that was not further pursued.