An Inhabited Ruin on the Bank of a River

An Inhabited Ruin on the Bank of a River

Jan van de Velde II

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jan van de Velde II reproduced this drawing, in reverse and with some modifications, for the last of his numerous printed landscape series (see 2014.733.3). Published shortly after Van de Velde’s death by Claes Jansz. Visscher, another enormously important maker of such series, under the title “PLAYSANTE LANTSCHAPPEN ende vermakelycke GESICHTEN” (“Pleasant landscapes and amusing views”), this series features thirty-five views of fields, rivers, and rustic buildings, all evoking the local Dutch landscape.[1] The titlepage of the series, designed by Visscher, explicitly notes that Van de Velde drew the scenes from life (“na t’ leven”). The present drawing, depicting a dilapidated building on the bank of a river (and the corner of a second overgrown structure at far right), is indeed suggestive of direct observation. Rapid marks made with a flat-tipped quill capture the varied textures of grass, leaves, and moss. Touches of brown wash create the illusion of reflections in the surface of the water at right. (JSS, 08/23/2018) [1] See Hollstein vol. 33, nos. 333-67, pp. 105-15.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An Inhabited Ruin on the Bank of a RiverAn Inhabited Ruin on the Bank of a RiverAn Inhabited Ruin on the Bank of a RiverAn Inhabited Ruin on the Bank of a RiverAn Inhabited Ruin on the Bank of a River

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.