Quality in Detail. The Juli and Andrew Wieg Collection

Circle of Paulus Bril

Roman ruins

VAT reduced rate

Lot Closed

March 24, 03:25 PM GMT

Estimate

2,000 - 3,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Circle of Paulus Bril

Roman ruins

Pen and brown ink on two joined sketchbook sheets; a small decorative sketch on the verso;

inscribed and dated in pen and brown ink, lower centre: Roma 1601 and bears attribution in black chalk, verso: Paulus Bril / Anversa 1554 - 1626 Roma

130 by 310 mm

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

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.