Circle of Paulus Bril

Dr. J. den Hartogh, Zeist,
from whom purchased in 1961 by Hans van Leeuwen (1911-2010), Amsterdam/Amerongen (L.2799a),
his sale, Amsterdam, Christie's, 24 November 1992, lot 40

Laren, Singer Museum, Nederlandse Tekeningen, Collectie Hans van Leeuwen, 1963, no. 25 (as Bril);
Nijmegen, Waag Museum, Tekeningen uit de Collectie Hans van Leeuwen, 1965, no. 2 (as Bril);
Bonn, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Saarbrücken, Saarländisches Museum, and Bochum, Städtische Kunstgalerie, Niederländische Zeichnungen des 17. bis 19. Jahrhunderts aus der Sammlung Hans van Leeuwen, 1968-1969, no. 28 (as Bril);
Rheydt, Städtisches Museum Schloss Rheydt, Niederländische Zeichnungen des 17. - 19. Jahrhunderts aus der Sammlung Hans van Leeuwen, 1971, no. 14 (as Bril);
Utrecht, Centraal Museum, Nederlandse Tekeningen uit drie Eeuwen, 1978, no. 27 (as Bril);
Bremen, Kunsthalle, Braunschweig, Städtisches Museum, and Stuttgart, Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, Meisterzeichnungen aus drei Jahrhundreten, Niederländische Hanzeichnungen des 17. bis 19. Jahrhunderts aus der Sammlung Hans van Leeuwen, 1979-80, no. 26 (as Bril);
Rome, Nederlands Instituut, Zicht op Rome 1620-1720, 1982

Though not the first artist from the Netherlands to visit and work in Italy, Paul Bril (1553/4-1626) was definitely the first to specialise in the depiction of the Italian landscape.  The revolution that he initiated in that genre of painting, both in Rome (where he lived for most of his life) and in the Netherlands, was profound. 

This delightful sketch, made from life, of a tranquil corner of the ruins of ancient Rome, was long attributed to Bril.  The drawing style is not, in fact, his, but this naturalistic and accomplished depiction of the Eternal City, rapidly drawn across a double-page spread of a sketchbook, none the less encapsulates the approach to the Italian landscape that is Bril's enduring legacy.