3. School of Antwerp
ca. 1530

Imaginary Landscape

(click on image to print)
School of Antwerp, Imaginary Landscape

Imaginary Landscape

Drawing in pen and brown ink and wash on early, but un-watermarked, laid paper, 137 x 201 mm., ex collection: Leonard Baskin (purchased directly from him). This fascinating drawing is from the earliest generation of Flemish landscape artists, a group that includes such figures as Jan van Scorel and Lucas Cornelisz Kunst. The rather bizarre, craggy mountain in the central background derives from Joachim Patinier (ca. 1485-1524) and appears, in some form, in numerous Flemish works of the period and afterward. The architectural elements also appear in other paintings and drawings of the time, whether the artist thought he was deriving his landscape backgrounds from Italy, Greece or the Holy Land. But the striking thing about this drawing is its focus on the dead tree is the foreground, whose low branch projects toward the viewer to proclaim its three-dimensionality. Yes, that has little to do with landscape per se, or with legend or with memory, but it does seem to say something about artistic discovery. Verso is another landscape drawing, perhaps of some years later and possibly by another hand. Landscape drawings of this period are extremely rare.

Inquire $10,000.00 Buy Now