Cottage with a White Paling
1648
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
This sketch shows a quiet riverside scene with a small wooden fence and two big trees framing a cottage. The water is calm, with a few boats tied up along the bank. The artist used quick, sketchy lines to draw everything—no smooth colors, just black marks on a light background. The trees and fence look simple but full of life, like a quick snapshot of a real place. This is an etching, which means the artist scratched lines into a metal plate instead of painting it. Want to see more? Check out etching to learn how artists make prints like this.
![View of Houtewael near the Sint Anthoniespoort [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/2919925de9060e70/thumb.webp)
