17th Century Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

No Dutch draughtsman ever captured the atmosphere of the rural countryside of Holland with the same atmospheric and engaging simplicity that Van Goyen achieved in drawings such as this. Indeed, his landscapes were seminal in the development of the genre. The present sketch conveys a striking sense of movement within the natural landscape, conveyed by the deftly applied strokes of chalk, from which the artist’s hand can be sensed. The composition is characteristic of his work, with the low horizon affording significance to the broad sky and the soaring birds within. This feeling of windswept motion powerfully evokes the expansive Dutch farmland with which he was evidently preoccupied. 1. Jan van Goyen...

This Rocky Landscape with Trees and the Ruins of a Temple is a drawing by Giulio Parigi, an eclectic and prolific artist of the Medici court. An engraver, architect, furniture and je...

Ludolf Bakhuizen 1631 - 1708 Dutch Men oWar Setting Sale in a Fresh Breeze Provenance Christies 1998 Pen and Grey Ink and Grey Wash. Image 5 x 7.25". Fr...

The attribution to Jan de Bisschop has been confirmed by the RKD with the following comment: "We base this attribution on the dark washes, the subject represented and the monogram". ...

In this finely executed pen and wash drawing, Jacobus Storck presents us with an imaginary view in an Italian port. The splendor of the buildings (the large sculpted fountain surmoun...

This study presents a typical Roman countryside landscape: an ancient mausoleum in front of which a cart is passing by followed by two peasants. If the technique (a pen drawing on graphite lines, completed with a wash of brown and grey inks) and the signature inevitably evoke the art of Lorrain, we find on the verso of this drawing additional evidences that lead us to consider this unpublished drawing as a work by the master. The motif of the mausoleum has been taken up in pen on the verso in a technique that can be found in several other drawings by Lorrain. There is also a study of three characters, which can be considered as preparatory to Lorrain’s painting entitled The Port of Ostia with the Embarkation of Saint Paula, leading us to claim this attribution with a dating of around 1639. 1. Claude Lorrain or the perfection of classical landscape in Rome in the 17th century Claude Gellée was born in 1600 in Chamagne in Lorraine. Orphaned at the age of twelve, he spent a year with his brother in Freiburg, where the latter was a woodcarver. Claude Gellée then probably arrived in Rome in 1613, where he joined the workshop of Agostino Tassi (1580 - 1644) in 1617. Between 1619 and 1620 he studied for two years in Naples in the workshop of Goffredi Wals (who was himself a former pupil of Tassi). In 1625 he returned to Lorraine for two years where he worked alongside Claude Deruet. He then returned to Rome, a city he never left for the rest of his life (except for short trips to the surrounding countryside). From 1627 to 1650 he lived in Via Margutta. From 1635 onwards he became a renowned painter and commissions started to pour in. Considered during his lifetime as the most accomplished of the classical landscape painters, his reputation never faded. Between 1629 and 1635 Le Lorrain often went to the Roman countryside to draw with his friend Joachim von Sandrart (1606 - 1686). He became a member of the Academy of Saint Luke in 1633, while being closely acquainted with the Bentvueghels, this guild which brought together the young Nordic painters active in Rome. In 1643 he joined the Congregation of the Virtuosi. In 1650 he moved to Via Paolina where he lived until his death. Little is known of his intimate life. He seems to have had a daughter, Agnes, from an ancillary love affair. In 1657/ 1658 she moved in with him. Stricken with gout in 1663, he died in 1682. 2. Description of the drawing; the technique of nature studies Two peasants are walking behind a horse-drawn cart on a road that winds through ancient tombs. While a rectangular tomb with a columned facade can be seen in the distance, the cart passes an important ancient building. It has a circular shape and its partially ruined façade is decorated with columns. The start of a second floor can...

A fine watercolor and sepia drawing of people harvesting in a hilly landscape attributed to Antonio Grano (c.1669-1718). In the front of the image is a shepherd resting against a roc...

Dog with plants in the garden is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1751. pen and watercolour on brown paper. In good codition except for some pencil marks and t...

Rome is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1742. In good condition except for some pencil marks and traces of sealing wax on the back and some diffused foxings. ...

Rome is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1742. In good condition except for some pencil marks and traces of sealing wax on the back and diffused foxings. Hand...

High quality watercolor drawing on paper representing a landscape. Faded handwritten text on top of sheet, not readable. Quite good conditions.

Plants is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1740. pen and watercolour on brown paper. In good codition except for some pencil marks and traces of sealing wax on...

Ink and wash on paper Image size: 7 1/2 x 6 inches (19 x 15.25 cm) Mounted This drawing is of a Gothic style church in the Netherlands that is likely to have been built in the 15th ...

Jan van der Heyden (1637 Gorinchem - 1712 Amsterdam), attributed. Old Master Drawing, Westerkerk Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, 17th century, Dutch Westerkerk and Keizersgracht in Amsterdam Backside: later drawn backside with village church of the 18th century Chalk and pen on paper 23,5 x 18,5 cm Preliminary drawing for a painting from the creative period c. 1667 - 1670. This painting has been published a few years ago by Peter C. Sutton in the catalogue raisonné of the artist. Van der Heyden was initially a pupil of a glass painter, but later turned exclusively to architectural painting and went to Amsterdam, where he painted views of churches, castles, palaces, public squares, streets, canals, etc., most of which are richly decorated with staffage. In addition, van der Heyden was also active as an inventor, for example, he developed a street lighting system for Amsterdam by means of oil street lamps, which was in operation from 1669 to 1840. After a stay in London, he painted the London fire of 1666, which he either witnessed himself or had seen the consequences of. Certainly influenced by this, he did much to further the technical and organisational development of the fire brigade from 1669 onwards. His greatest invention was probably the fire hose, which enabled significant improvements in fire-fighting technology and tactics. He also improved the hand-operated fire engines of the time by making them smaller, more mobile and more powerful, and he developed the series connection of several pumps to increase the pressure in order to achieve a greater range for the water jet. In 1690, together with his son, he was the author and illustrator of the Brandspuiten-boek, the first manual for fire fighting. Johann Lingelbach, Adriaen van de Velde and Eglon van der Neer...

Pen and ink, brown wash, heightened with white bodycolour Image size: 9 x 10 1/2 inches (22.75 x 26.75 cm) Mounted with hand made gilt frame Lingelbach presents a scene from the end...