1600
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Two Bohemian Peasants in Half-Length is a 1600 by Roelant Savery, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see two farmers in worn clothes, one holding a basket, the other resting his hand on his hip. Savery drew these people quickly, right where they stood. He scribbled color notes in the margins—“red cap,” “blue apron”—so he could paint them later. The farmers don’t pose or look at you; they just exist, like a snapshot. If you like these quiet scenes, look up *Flanders* next.
These three drawings, which depict seated peasants at a market in the city and a team of horses led by a herder on horseback, are part of a group of approximately 80 observational drawings by Savery. His farmers, market vendors, and other everyday people are never posed and rarely glance at the viewer. Savery marked each drawing with detailed instructions regarding the colors to be used later and the words naer het leven (from the life). The works were made in Prague when Savery was employed at the court of the great patron and art collector Emperor Rudolf II, demonstrating that interest in…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Roelant Savery (or Roeland(t) Maertensz Saverij, or de Savery, or many variants; 1576 – buried 25 February 1639) was a Flanders-born Dutch Golden Age painter.
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