16th Century Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

STEFANO DALL’ARZERE (Padua, circa 1520 – 1570) Saint Jerome Praying, with a Landscape in the Background Pen and brown ink, heightened with white over black chalk lines 15.5 x 12 cm...

Tribuna della Basilica Labicana is an original old master artwork realized in 16th century by Giovanna Fontana. IIvory colored paper attached on an ivory colored sheet (cm 27 x 36.7...

Attributed to Jan VAN DER STRAET, called Stradanus (Bruges, 1523 – Florence, 1605) Hunting Scene Pen and brown ink, brown wash and white heightening on prepared brown paper, 26 × 31 cm Unsigned Provenance Private collection, France This striking and highly accomplished drawing depicts a wild boar hunt in a wooded landscape, animated by numerous figures and animals. The dramatic energy of the foreground, where hounds and hunters engage the beast, is heightened by the bold use of white heightening, which models the forms and enlivens the surface. The background, structured by tall trees and populated with additional hunting scenes, lends the composition a theatrical depth. Attributed to Jan van der Straet, known as Stradanus, this work belongs to the artistic context of Medicean Florence, where the artist developed an important body of hunting scenes intended for illustration and engraving. Influenced by Italian Renaissance models as well as his native Flemish culture, Stradanus excelled in dynamic storytelling and elegant draftsmanship. The drawing may have been a preparatory study for one of the compositions from the celebrated Venationes Ferarum, Avium, Piscium series, engraved in Antwerp under the supervision of Philips Galle...

Provenance: Dr. George Hamilton, Massachusetts; and by descent. Private Collection, Ohio, until 2021. Exhibited: (Possibly) Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts (according to a handwritten inscription on the reverse). This drawing by an anonymous, 16th-century German hand presents a delightful scene of nymphs—mostly nude but some draped with cloth—making music in an outdoor setting. The composition is executed within a roundel and centers on the harpsichord played by the figure seen from behind. She is accompanied by a host of other instruments, including horns, a harp, and a lira da gamba played by figures gathered nearby, several of which are positioned along the curved edges of the visual field. Two satyrs observe the merrymaking—one leans on the harpsichord while the other holds aloft a cup, presumably of wine, adding a bacchic element to the revelry. The drawing was previously owned by Dr. George Hamilton, scholar of modern art and Director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown (1966–1977). Hamilton played...