1700
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Large Tree is a 1700 ink by Jan Both, a Baroque work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This black-and-white print shows a single, gnarled tree standing in the center of a landscape. The branches twist sharply, with clusters of leaves filling the top half. Below, the ground is uneven—some rocky, some flat—with a faint path or river cutting through the bottom. In the distance, hills roll softly under a pale sky. The artist used fine lines to show every twist of bark and leaf, making the tree look almost alive. This kind of detailed linework is key to the printmaking method used here. Check out etching to see how artists like this carved their designs into metal plates.
Jan Dirksz Both was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher, who made an important contribution to the development of Dutch Italianate landscape painting.
See the richer artist page
