Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Italian Landscape Drawings by Paul Bril

Paul Bril
Skeleton hanging from a tree in a landscape
ca. 1590-1610
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Paul Bril
Wooded ravine with distant harbor-view
before 1626
drawing (formerly owned by Everhard Jabach)
Morgan Library, New York

"In the decades before and after 1600, Paul Bril (1553-1626) was the most important Netherlandish artist in Rome.  His work was of immense influence on all the artists who painted and drew the landscape in Italy and beyond.  During his lifetime Bril was discussed and praised by writers of several nationalities.  The young artist set out for Rome in 1574.  After a prolonged stay in Lyon, it was probably 1582 before he actually arrived in the city.  Bril's older brother Matthijs (1550-1583) had already settled in Rome, where, among other things, he painted frescoes in the Vatican.  At first Paul worked with him, but Matthijs died the year after Paul's arrival."

"In addition to frescoes and a large output of paintings, there are dated drawings from every year of Paul's life.  . . .  Whereas 16th-century Netherlandish artists like Jan Gossaert and Maarten van Heemskerck tended to choose Roman ruins and monuments as subjects for their landscape drawings, Paul Bril produced primarily imaginary landscapes.  His early drawings are carefully composed views of coastal, river and mountain landscapes, in which small figures can be seen at work or on the road.  The compositions are often framed to left and right by clumps of trees.  The viewer's eye is led through various planes with trees and old buildings to a distant prospect.  . . .  After 1600 Bril's landscapes gradually start to make a less constructed impression; the horizon is lower and they look more natural."

– 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

attributed to Paul Bril
Landscape with figure
before 1626
drawing
Princeton University Art Museum

Paul Bril
Heroic landscape
before 1626
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Paul Bril
Landscape with trees at the edge of a pool
1609
drawing
British Museum

Paul Bril
Classical landscape with a fountain
before 1626
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Paul Bril
Rocky landscape with trees and waterfall
ca. 1608
drawing
British Museum

Paul Bril
Rocky landscape with trees
1608
drawing
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Paul Bril
Wooded landscape
1598
drawing (formerly owned by Jonathan Richardson, Senior)
British Museum

Paul Bril
Landscape with a sunken road between trees, leading over a hill
1609
drawing
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Paul Bril
Stream bordered by trees
ca. 1590-1610
drawing
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Paul Bril
Coastal landscape with ruinous castle
before 1626
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Paul Bril
Roman ruins on the Palatine Hill
before 1626
drawing
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Paul Bril
Ancient ruins, Rome
ca. 1600-1626
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Paul Bril
Ruins of the palace of Septimius Severus on the Palatine Hill, Rome
1624
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam