Square Tower Used as Inn near a River
Jan van de Velde II
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
This is the fifth of the thirty-six prints (including title page) that comprise the last of Jan van de Velde II’s printed landscape series, “PLAYSANTE LANTSCHAPPEN ende vermakelycke GESICHTEN” (“Pleasant landscapes and amusing views”), published by Claes Jansz. Visscher shortly after Van de Velde’s death. (The title page, designed by Visscher, advertises the series as Van de Velde’s final works.) The fields, rivers, and rustic buildings, populated by figures of different classes engaged in a variety of activities, from farming and hunting to boating and ice skating, are not identifiable views but strongly evoke the local Dutch landscape. The present image features a dilapidated, overgrown structure, a motif favored by Van de Velde and other practitioners of the genre. The print reproduces in reverse a drawing also acquired in 2014 (see 2014.590). When working on the plate, Van de Velde added three figures: two noblemen, one holding a rifle, the other seated with a helmeted falcon, and, at far right, a woman in peasant dress. He also modified the shape of the building and, with details like the half-open window and the wreath(?) and basket, more emphatically identified the structure as being inhabited. (JSS, 8/23/2018)
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
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.