BARTHOLOMEUS BREENBERGH Deventer 1598/1600 – 1657

View of a hill-top village in

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk 151 x 191 mm

PROVENANCE Private collection

This view of a citadel perched on top of a rocky hill is an early drawing by the Dutch artist . Datable to the first half of his ten-year stay in , where he resided from 1619 to 1629, it is likely set in the Lazio.

Undoubtedly executed on the spot, our sheet preserves the directness of an eye-witness drawing. The three human figures, a man standing atop the stone archway on the right and two kneeling men in the foreground, may have been included to give a sense of scale. The flock of birds flying over the buildings at top left contributes to bringing the scene to life. Similarly, by exploiting the contrast between the brown ink wash and the brightness of the paper on the central rock formation, the artist successfully conveys the effect of strong southern sunlight bathing the landscape. Water flows under the archway and in the foreground, its presence made perceptible through gentle flowing lines and lightly applied wash.

A closely related drawing by Breenbergh is in National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (Fig. 1 ).1 Both works show the same hilltop town but from different angles. In our sheet, the scene is captured from a much closer viewpoint, and the artist was positioned so as to have a frontal view of the two more imposing buildings on the edge of the hill. It is however possible to closely compare a number of details that recur in both works. The same stone archway is visible from a distance at the far right of the Edinburgh sheet, surmounted by a tree. The silhouettes of the buildings that form the village or ruined castle can also be matched. The two sheets differ in genesis and function, thus accounting for the changes in focus.

The larger Edinburgh sheet presents a more dramatic natural setting, with a waterfall running down a rocky landscape that takes up the right-hand side of the composition. Such additions may be based on a further drawing or on the artist’s imagination. Furthermore, the pair of gesturing figures standing and crouching on the rock at bottom left suggest that a narrative may be implied here.

It was common practice from Breenbergh to rely on his drawings as starting points for later compositions. Many of the pen and wash sketches he executed in were re-elaborated for the backgrounds of his biblical and mythological scenes, painted after his return to the Netherlands. Indeed, he repurposed the top-half of the Edinburgh drawing, with the citadel

1 Inv. D. 853, pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, over black chalk, 276 x 232 mm; M. Roethlisberger, Bartholomaus Breenbergh Handzeichnungen, Berlin 1969, p. 24, no. 23, illustrated.

1 and the archway topped by a tree, to create the backdrop of his Ulysses and Nausicaa, of 1640, now in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (Fig. 2).2

What might be a later, as yet unidentified, collector’s mark is inscribed on a rock on the foreground at centre-left. Its shape resembles that of a letter A surrounded by four crescent moons.

As well as being a significant addition to the early phase of Breenbergh’s draughtsmanship, our sheet is illuminating in the context of our understanding of the relationship between Breenbergh and the older artist (1554–1626). A drawing by Bril in the Stedelijk Prentenkabinet, Antwerp, Rocky landscape with a citadel (Fig. 3), dated 1626, shows the same view as the Edinburgh sheet, begging the question who inspired whom.3 Made in the year of Bril’s death, the Antwerp sheet is the artist’s last dated composition and was copied multiple times.4

The relationship between the two artists was questioned by Peter Schatborn. While positing that Breenbergh’s drawing in Edinburgh was after Bril’s, Schatborn adds: ‘The similarity between Breenbergh’s style and Bril’s is striking – or could it be that the ageing Bril was influenced in his late style by Breenbergh? In any event the composition appears to have been drawn from life and we know of few such drawings by Bril.’5 Schatborn’s intuition is now fully corroborated by the present drawing. Breenbergh must have been on site when making it; it could not have been simply imagined on the basis of Bril’s Antwerp sheet. The Edinburgh drawing could in turn have been the model for Bril’s successful rendering of the majestic natural scenery.

Further evidence of Breenbergh having visited the site is provided by a signed sheet in the Museé de Grenoble, which shows another view of the citadel on the rocks, taken from a spot further to the left.6 A dating to the mid-1620s can be suggested for it as well as our drawing. A later inscription on the mount of the Grenoble sheet, ‘Rocca di Laurentano’ offers a potential clue as to the location of this picturesque site. Marcel Röthlisberger has tentatively interpreted it as referring to the now uninhabited Rocca di Ardea, ancient capital of the Rutuli on the Via Laurentiana, twenty miles south of Rome, although this is not verifiable.

Born in Deventer, Breenbergh first trained in Amsterdam, possibly with (1592- 1650), and is recorded in Rome from 1619. His acquaintance with Paul Bril must have started soon after his arrival and continued until the older artist’s death in 1626. The other important influence on Breeenbergh’s style came from another Dutch landscape painter and draughtsman, Cornelis van Poelenburch (1594-1667). However, Breenbergh’s drawings show a distinctive and independently developed manner of executing pen and brush drawings. The primary focus in his most effective sheets is placed on evocative contrasts of light and shadow. Buildings and figures often become one with the countryside thanks to his generous application of layers of brown wash; an effect also seen in our sheet. Dated drawings exist for

2 Inv. ГЭ-3277, oil on panel, 56 x 70 cm; M. Roethlisberger, Bartholomaus Breenbergh: The Paintings, Berlin and New York, 1981, cat. no. 199, illustrated. 3 Inv. PK.OT.00092, pen and brown ink, grey wash, 232 x 363 mm; L. Wood Ruby, Paul Bril, the Drawings, Turnhout, 1999, cat. no. 109, illustrated. 4 Wood Ruby, op. cit., cat. no. 101. 5 P. Schatborn, ‘Bartholomeus Breenbergh’, in Drawn to Warmth 17th century Dutch Artists in Italy, Amsterdam, exhibition catalogue, 2001, p. 66. 6 Inv. MG D 661, signed, lower right, BB. F., and numbered, top right corner, 12, pen and black in, grey wash, black ink framing lines, 920 x 149 mm; Roethlisberger, Breenbergh: The Paintings, cat. no. 105, illustrated.

2 each of the years between 1624 and 1629, when Breenbergh returned to the Netherlands. He drew many views of Roman ruins, Tivoli, localities near Bracciano, and the spectacular gardens of , north of Rome. In 1630 Breenbergh settled in Amsterdam where his works relied heavily on the wealth of drawings executed in Italy. His last dated drawing is from the year of his death, 1657, but it was while in Italy that he produced his most accomplished graphic works.

Collection of Prof. J. Leski (Professor of Astrology, University of Cracovia), according to a declaration from the Administration of the Museum of the Princes of Lubomirski, Lwow, 1923.

Family of Elena Parys Feldberg by descent to the present owner.

Notes: Catalogued by Dr. Dagmar Hnikova, expert from the "Kunsthaus Zurich" Museum, Zurich, September 1975.

Appraised also as "Everdingen" by Sotheby's, New York, 24.1.1985 and estimated as $800-1000.

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