Landscape with a Town by the Seashore and Mountains in the Distance

Landscape with a Town by the Seashore and Mountains in the Distance

Matthijs Cock

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This rustic panorama of a hilly countryside with a town in the distance is typical of the early Netherlandish landscapes of the mid-sixteenth century. The pen drawing is executed in short and delicate strokes and dots, which, despite the sheet’s condition, render a picturesque image. The author is currently unidentified, although connections can be made with the works of Matthijs Cock (ca. 1509/10–before 1548), Cornelis Massys (1510–ca. 1556/57) and the enigmatic Master of the Errera Sketchbook – artists belonging to the so-called second generation of early Netherlandish landscape. Stylistically and compositionally, their work is closely related, yet the distinctive stippling technique in our drawing is alien to their techniques. The sheet therefore remains anonymous.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Landscape with a Town by the Seashore and Mountains in the DistanceLandscape with a Town by the Seashore and Mountains in the DistanceLandscape with a Town by the Seashore and Mountains in the DistanceLandscape with a Town by the Seashore and Mountains in the DistanceLandscape with a Town by the Seashore and Mountains in the Distance

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.