View of an Italian Town (after Titian or Domenico Campagnola)

Bolognese 17th Century

1520

ink

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Renaissance Renaissance Cityscape

About this work

This sketch shows a small hillside town with wooden buildings stacked up the slope. The roofs are steep and shingled, some with chimneys poking out. Trees dot the hillside, and the ground looks uneven, almost rocky. The whole scene is drawn in brown ink with fine lines, giving it a scratchy, textured look. The artist used a technique called cross-hatching to build up shadows and depth. That’s why some areas look darker—just layers of crisscrossed lines. Check out cross-hatching to see how artists create shading with lines.