Ruin of the huis Ter Kleef near Haarlem

1646

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

Ruin of the huis Ter Kleef near Haarlem is a 1646 by Roelant Roghman, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Roelant Roghman
When & what style?: 1646 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a crumbling brick castle half-swallowed by trees and vines, its towers still standing but windows empty. Roghman walked hundreds of miles to draw these ruins right after the Eighty Years’ War. He didn’t clean them up—just showed the broken walls and wild plants taking over. The ink and charcoal make the shadows deep, like the place is slowly disappearing. Look up more drawings of the Netherlands to see how other artists showed the same land after war.