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View of Heidelberg

ca. 1588–89
Not on view
This 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).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: View of Heidelberg
  • Artist: Jan Brueghel the Elder (Netherlandish, Brussels 1568–1625 Antwerp)
  • Date: ca. 1588–89
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and blue and brown wash, heightened with white; framing lines in pen and brown ink
  • Dimensions: 7 7/8 x 12 in. (20.0 x 30.5 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, David T. Schiff Gift and Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1995
  • Object Number: 1995.15
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The Thieves Robbing the Man from The Good Samaritan, Jan Brueghel the Elder Netherlandish, Engraving
The Thieves Robbing the Man from The Good Samaritan
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Assuerus van Londerseel
The Good Samaritan Finds the Man, Jan Brueghel the Elder Netherlandish, Engraving
The Good Samaritan Finds the Man
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Assuerus van Londerseel
n.d.
River Scene, Jan Brueghel the Elder Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink, brown, and red wash, over black chalk; framing lines in brown ink
River Scene
Jan Brueghel the Elder
16th century
Boats and Houses, Jan Brueghel the Elder Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink, brown wash (faded gray); circular framing lines lightly sketched in pen and brown ink
Boats and Houses
Jan Brueghel the Elder
16th century
The Ruins of Castle Merxem, near Antwerp, Jan Brueghel the Elder Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink with pink, blue, gray, and yellow washes
The Ruins of Castle Merxem, near Antwerp
Jan Brueghel the Elder
1610

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