1600
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Peasant's Cottage (recto); Bridge and Gate (verso) is a 1600 by Abraham Bloemaert, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see two sides of one sheet: a thatched cottage on one side, a stone bridge and gate on the other. Both are drawn in quick, sure strokes with brown ink and gray wash. The sheet is small—only about the size of a postcard—yet it holds two complete scenes. Bloemaert likely carried sheets like this in his pocket, sketching whatever caught his eye while traveling through the Dutch countryside. To see how other Dutch artists turned quick sketches into finished paintings, look up *netherlands, early 17th century*.
Abraham Bloemaert, active in Utrecht, was a painter, prolific draftsman, print designer, and important teacher. Bloemaert was an important precursor of the new wave of realism in Dutch art in the 1620s. Artist and author Karel van Mander (1548-1606) wrote the following description of Bloemaert=s drawings in 1604 which seems to correspond very closely to this work: With art lovers there are also by him very attractive landscapes with some attractive and funny farmhouses, farm tools, trees, and backgrounds, things to be seen around Utrecht in great numbers and variety, for he does very much…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Abraham Bloemaert (25 December 1566 – 27 January 1651) was a Dutch painter and printmaker who used etching and engraving.
See the richer artist page
