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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Colosseum, Rome 1627 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Street in Rome 1620 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Traveler crossing stone bridge in rocky landscape with a spring 1629 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
"Bartholomeus Breenbergh was probably first apprenticed in Amsterdam, but it was his years in Italy that were decisive. At about age twenty, Breenbergh went to Rome, where he lived with Flemish landscapist Paul Bril and was influenced by the intimate, deeply poetic landscapes of German expatriate Adam Elsheimer. Breenbergh belonged to the first generation of Dutch Italianates, artists who traveled to Italy in the 1620s and were inspired by its light and atmosphere. With Cornelis van Poelenburgh, whose early style is very similar, Breenbergh helped to bring the Italianate tradition of landscape to the Low Countries, reflecting a fascination on the part of northern European artists with Italian landscapes rather than with the local topography. In Holland by 1633, Breenbergh specialized in scenes including Roman ruins, based on his drawings of Italy. In the 1630s he began introducing biblical and mythological figures and his compositions became larger and more ambitious. Breenbergh often painted Old Testament themes, but he placed the scenes themselves far in his landscape's background. His expressive figure types reveal affinities with those of Pieter Lastman."
– biographical notes from the Getty Museum, Los Angeles
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Saul anointing David in the ruins of the Roman Forum 1642 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Ruins of Nymphaeum, Rome ca. 1625-40 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh View of Roman ruins before 1629 drawing with watercolor Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
"There are dated drawings from each of the years that Breenbergh spent in Italy from 1624 to 1629. Most of them were drawn outdoors, although there are also second versions of some of them that were made in Italy or later in the Netherlands. Breenbergh drew in Rome, Tivoli, near Bracciano, and in the gardens of Bomarzo to the north of Rome. The Orsini, the Dukes of Bracciano, ruled over the area that included Bomarzo and Torre di Chia, and it seems likely that Breenbergh worked for Paolo Giordano Orsini II. Innumerable drawings of Bomarzo, particularly the drawing [directly below] in which the Duke and his entourage bathe in the lake at Bracciano while an artist sits drawing in the foreground, bear witness to a close relationship. An inscription on this drawing [upper left corner] gives the name of every member of the company."
– Peter Schatborn, from the catalogue of a 2001 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, published in English as Drawn to Warmth: 17th-century Dutch artists in Italy, translated by Lynne Richards
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Bathers in the Lake of Bracciano ca. 1620-29 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Fountain of Pegasus in the gardens of Bomarzo 1625 drawing British Museum |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh View of Torre di Chia ca. 1620-29 drawing École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh View of Tivoli before 1629 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh View of Tivoli before 1657 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Ruins of the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli before 1657 drawing- British Museum |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Ruins of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli before 1657 drawing- Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Bartholomeus Breenbergh Self-portrait among ruins ca. 1619-28 etching British Museum |