Museum of Art
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Artist: Master of the Mountain Landscapes (formerly attributed to Bruegel) (formerly attributed to Pieter Bruegel & Jacob Savery) (Netherlandish, -)
Medium: pen and brown ink on paper
Dimensions: 12 5/8 in. x 10 13/16 in. (32 cm. x 27.4 cm.)
Credit Line: Bequest of the Honorable James º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ III
Accession Number: 1811.142
- "156 Waltersspurg"
Type: inscription
Location: top center
Materials: pen and brown ink - "den ouden breugol [?] No. 56"
Type: inscription
Location: verso
Materials: graphite
- James º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ III( Collector, Boston) - 1811.
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art( Museum, Brunswick, Maine) 1811- . Bequest
- Old Master Drawings at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 5/17/1985 - 7/7/1985)
- Clark Art Institute. ( 9/14/1985 - 10/27/1985)
- University of Kansas. ( 1/19/1986 - 3/2/1986)
- Art Gallery of Ontario. ( 5/17/1986 - 6/29/1986)
- Nature Inhabited
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 4/20/1995 - 6/4/1995)
- Drawings from Maine Collections
- Colby College Museum of Art. ( 5/14/1978 - 7/16/1978)
- Masterpieces from the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art
- The Currier Gallery of Art. ( 9/5/1986 - 10/19/1986)
- 30th Anniversary Exhib.: Masterworks from University & College Art Collections
- Drawings - Fourth Anniversary Exhibition
- Lyman Allyn Museum. ( 3/2/1936 - 4/15/1936)
- Seventy Master Drawings
- Fogg Museum of Art. ( 11/27/1948 - 1/6/1949)
- Landscape Drawings & Water-Colors: Bruegel to Cézanne
- The Pierpont Morgan Library. ( 1/31/1953 - 4/11/1953)
- Prints & Drawings of Pieter Bruegel The Elder
- An Exhibition of Drawings
- Colby College. ( 4/27/1956 - 5/23/1956)
- Old Master Drawings
- The Newark Museum. ( 3/17/1960 - 5/22/1960)
- European Drawings, 1450 - 1900
- Santa Barbara Museum of Art. ( 2/25/1964 - 3/28/1964)
- A Thousand Years of Landscape East and West
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. ( 10/24/1945 - 12/9/1945)
- Masterpieces of Drawing - Diamond Jubilee Exhibition
- Philadelphia Museum of Art. ( 11/4/1950 - 2/11/1951)
- Five Centuries of Drawings
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. ( 10/1/1953 - 11/30/1953)
- Chinese Landscape Painting
- Cleveland Museum of Art. ( 11/4/1954 - 1/2/1955)
- Masters of Landscape: East and West
- Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. ( 9/15/1963 - 10/13/1963)
- Rochester Memorial Art Gallery. ( 11/1/1963 - 12/1/1963)
- Northern Renaissance
- Busch-Reisinger Museum. ( 2/13/1967 - 4/1/1967)
- Prints and Drawings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
- University of New Mexico Art Museum. ( 1/28/1968 - 2/25/1968)
- Dürer to Bruegel: A Century of Humanism
- Harvard University. ( 1/7/1970 - 2/21/1970)
- Art Collections of New England Colleges
- University of New Hampshire. ( 10/13/1960 - 11/13/1960)
- Pieter Bruegel der Ältere als Zeichner: Herkunft und Nachfolge
- Staatliche Museen. ( 9/19/1975 - 11/16/1975)
- Drawing on Basics
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 10/14/1993 - 12/19/1993)
- Selection: Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture from the Museum Collections
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 11/1/1967 - 12/10/1967)
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints
- Metropolitan Museum of Art. ( 9/24/2001 - 12/2/2001)
- Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. ( 5/27/2001 - 8/5/2001)
- Pointed Pairings: The Valuing of Art
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 4/4/2002 - 6/16/2002)
- RSVP: Farewell Our Lovelies
- Drawings: Pieter Bruegel, the Elder
- Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Connecticut. ( 3/2/1936 - 4/15/1936)
- Re-opening Exhibition: Great Graphics: Prints and Drawings 1470-1970
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 10/14/2007 - 3/9/2008)
- The Art of The Deal
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 9/15/2010 - 10/24/2010)
- Old Master Drawings from the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art
- Timken Museum of Art. ( 5/13/2005 - 8/14/2005)
- Why Draw? 500 Years of Drawings and Watercolors at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ
- º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art. ( 5/3/2017 - 9/3/2017)
Type: catalogue Author: H. Johnson Document Title: Catalogue of the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Art Collections Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Reference: no. 98 Remarks: (as Unknown) Publisher: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Section Title: Pt. I, The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Drawings Date: 1885 Author: Rev. F. H. Allen Document Title: The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Collection Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Location: pt. 4 Reference: no 15, repr. Remarks: (as Unknown) Section Title: [five parts of four illustrations each, with individual texts] Date: 1886 Author: F. J. Mather, Jr. Document Title: Art in America, vol. II, no. 2 Location: pp. 108 Reference: fig. 1 Remarks: (as Bruegel) Section Title: Drawings by Old Masters at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Ascribed to Northern Schools: II Date: 1914 Type: catalogue Author: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art Document Title: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of fine Arts, Walker Art Building Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Reference: no. 98 Remarks: (as Unknown) Publisher: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Section Title: Descriptive Catalogue of the . . . Date: 1930 Author: C. de Tolnay Document Title: Pierre Bruegel l'Ancian Publ. Place: Brussels Location: p. 102, supp. no. 5 Reference: repr. pl. 116, fig 198 Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1935 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Winslow Ames Document Title: Drawings Publ. Place: New London Reference: no. 46 Publisher: Lyman Allyn Museum Section Title: Fourth Anniversary Exhibition Date: 1936 Author: C. de Tolnay Document Title: History and Technique of Old Master Drawings Publ. Place: New York Location: p. 134 Reference: no. 172, repr. Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1943 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Document Title: A Thousand Years of Landscape East and West Publ. Place: Boston Reference: no. 6 Date: 1945 Author: [H. C. Siber] Document Title: Connoisseur, vol. 120, no. 506 Location: p. 116, 118 Reference: fig. II Remarks: (as Bruegel) Section Title: James º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ and His Collection of Drawings with Notes on . . . Date: 1947 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Fogg Art Museum Document Title: Seventy Master Drawings Publ. Place: Cambridge Reference: no. 27 Publisher: Harvard University Section Title: A Loan Exhibition arranged in Honor of Professor Paul J. Sachs Date: 1948 Author: A. Mongan Document Title: One Hundred Master Drawings Publ. Place: Cambridge Location: p. 62 Reference: repr. Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1949 Type: handbook Author: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art Document Title: An Illustrated Handbook of the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Fine Arts Edition: 5th Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Location: p. 21 Reference: fig. 15 Publisher: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Date: 1950 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Philadelphia Museum of Art Document Title: Masterpieces of Drawing - Diamond Jubilee Exhibition Publ. Place: Philadelphia Reference: no. 48 (illus.) Date: 1950 Author: C. de Tolnay Document Title: The Drawings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder Publ. Place: London Location: pp. 58-59 Reference: no. 16, repr. pl. 9 Date: 1952 Type: catalogue Author: Christies's Document Title: Important Ancient and Modern Pictures and Drawings Publ. Place: London Location: p. 9 Reference: no. 41 Date: 1952 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Felice Stampfle Document Title: Landscape Drawings and Watercolors: Brueghel to Cezanne Publ. Place: New York Location: p. 23 Publisher: The Pierpont Morgan Library Date: 1953 Author: O. Benesch Document Title: Review of De Tolnay Location: p. 79 Section Title: Die Zeichnungen Pieter Bruegels. Kunstchronik, vol. 6, no. 3 Date: 1953 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Document Title: Five Centuries of Drawings Publ. Place: Montreal, Quebec, Canada Reference: no. 8 (illus.) Date: 1953 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Cleveland Museum of Art Document Title: Chinese Landscape Painting Publ. Place: Cleveland Reference: no. 119, illus. p. 86 Date: 1954 Author: F. Grossman Document Title: Bulletin Museum Boymans Rotterdam, vol. 5, nos. 2 and 3 Location: pp. 54, 76, 84 Section Title: The Drawings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder . . . Date: 1954 Author: M. Auner Document Title: Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, vol. 52, n.s. 16 Location: p. 75 Section Title: Pieter Bruegel, Umrisse eines Lebenbildes Date: 1956 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Colby College Art Department Document Title: An Exhibition of Drawings Publ. Place: Waterville, Maine Reference: no. 5 Publisher: Colby College Date: 1956 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: The University of Kansas Museum of Art Document Title: 30th Anniversary Celebration Publ. Place: Lawrence, Kansas Location: title page Reference: fig. 38 Publisher: University of Kansas Section Title: Masterworks from University and College Art Collections Date: 1958 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: E. E. and W H. Gerdts Document Title: Old Master Drawings Publ. Place: Newark, New Jersey Reference: fig. 20 Publisher: The Newark Museum Date: 1960 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: University of New Hampshire Document Title: Art Collections of New England Colleges Publ. Place: Durham, New Hampshire Reference: no. 20 Publisher: University of New Hampshire Date: 1960 Author: L. Münz Document Title: Bruegel -- The Drawings Publ. Place: London and Greenwich Location: pp. 14, 210, Reference: no. 19, pl. 19 Date: 1961 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Ebria Feinblatt Document Title: Pieter Brueghel the Elder Publ. Place: Los Angeles Location: p. 11 Reference: no. 103 Publisher: Los Angeles County Museum Section Title: Exhibition of Prints and Drawings Date: 1961 Author: I. Moskowitz, ed. Document Title: Great Drawings of All Time Publ. Place: New York Location: vol. 2 Reference: no. 497, repr. Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1962 Author: S. E. Lee Document Title: Chinese Landscape Painting Edition: 2nd Publ. Place: Cleveland Location: p. 79 Reference: fig. E Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1962 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Document Title: Masters of Landscape: East and West Publ. Place: Utica, New York Reference: no. 21 (illus.) Date: 1963 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Santa Barbara Museum of Art Document Title: European Drawings: 1450-1900 Publ. Place: Santa Barbara Reference: fig. 7 Publisher: Santa Barbara Museum of Art Date: 1964 Author: F. Grossman Document Title: Bruegel -- The Paintings Publ. Place: London Location: p. 15 Date: 1966 Author: G. Arpino and P. Bianconi Document Title: L'Opere completa di Bruegel Publ. Place: Milan Location: p. 85 Reference: repr. Date: 1967 Author: C. D. Cuttler Document Title: Northern Painting from Pucelle to Bruegel Publ. Place: New York Location: p. 470 Reference: fig. 654 Date: 1968 Author: B. Claessens and J. Rousseau Document Title: Our Bruegel Publ. Place: Antwerp Location: p. 60, fig. 5, and p. 151 Date: 1969 Author: W. Stechow Document Title: Pieter Bruegel the Elder Publ. Place: New York Location: pp. 18, 37 Reference: fig. 23 Date: 1969 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Busch-Reisinger Museum Document Title: Dürer and Bruegel: A Century of Humanism Publ. Place: Cambridge Date: 1970 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Kupferstichkabinett Document Title: Pieter Bruegel d. Ä als Zeichner: Herkunft und Nachfolge Publ. Place: Berlin, Germany Reference: no. 57a, fig. 88a Publisher: Staatliche Museen Date: 1975 Author: C. Eisler Document Title: The Seeing Hand -- A Treasury of Great Master Drawings Publ. Place: New York Location: [p. 73] Reference: no. F.8, repr. Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1975 Author: H. Spencer Document Title: The Image Maker -- Man and His Art Publ. Place: New York Location: pp. 189-91 Reference: fig. 133 Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1975 Author: W. S. Gibson Document Title: Bruegel Publ. Place: London Location: pp. 34-35 Reference: fig. 12 Date: 1977 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Colby College Art Museum Document Title: Drawings from Maine Collections Publ. Place: Waterville, Maine Reference: no. 6 (illus.) Publisher: Colby College Date: 1978 Author: P. Bianconi Document Title: Bruegel Publ. Place: Bologna and New York Location: p. 20 (illus.) Date: 1979 Author: J. Müller Hofstede Document Title: Pieter Bruegel und seine Welt Publ. Place: Berlin Location: pp. 106-107 (n. 120-21), 111, 125 Remarks: O. von Simson and M. Winner, eds. Section Title: Zur Interpretation von Bruegels Landschaft. Asthetische . . . Date: 1979 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: Palais des Beaux-Arts Document Title: Bruegel, Une Dynastie des Peintres Publ. Place: Brussels Location: pp. 32, repr., 64 Date: 1980 Type: catalogue review Author: Hans Mielke Document Title: L'epoque de Lucas de Leyde et Pierre Bruegel Publ. Place: Berlin, Germany Location: pp. 75-90 Publisher: Kupferstichkabinett, Staatl. Museen PreuB. Kulturbesitz Section Title: Dessins des anciens Pays-Bas: Collection Frits Lugt Date: 1980-1981 (?) Author: C. D. Denison and H. B. Mules Document Title: European Drawings, 1375-1825 Publ. Place: New York Location: p. 56 Remarks: (as Bruegel) Date: 1981 Author: Konrad Oberhuber Document Title: Master Drawings, vol. 19, no. 2 Location: pp. 146-56 Section Title: Bruegel's Early Landscape Drawings Date: 1981 Type: exhibition catalogue Author: David P. Becker Document Title: Old Master Drawings at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Location: pp. 19-22 Reference: no. 8 Remarks: (as Bruegel) Publisher: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Date: 1985 Author: James Snyder Document Title: Northern Renaissance Art Publ. Place: New York Reference: fig. 573 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Section Title: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575 Date: 1985 Author: Artists in Maine Document Title: Artists in Maine, vol. I, no. 1 Publ. Place: Portland Location: p. 36 (illus.) Publisher: Artists in Maine Date: 1986 Author: Hans Mielke Document Title: Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen Publ. Place: Berlin, Germany Location: pp. 128-134 Publisher: Gebr. Mann Verlag Section Title: Pieter Bruegel D. Ä. Probleme Seines Zeichnerischen Oeuvres Date: 1991 Author: Walter S. Gibson Document Title: La Glorification de la Montagne Publ. Place: Chambéry, France Location: p. 179 Reference: fig. 5 (illus.) Publisher: Congrès national des Sociétés savantes Section Title: Le paysage Alpestre dans l'art de Pieter Bruegel l'ancien Date: 1991 Author: Hans Christoph von Tavel Document Title: L'Iconographie Nationale Location: p. 212 (illus.) Date: 1992 Type: exhibiton catalogue Author: Julia W. Vicinus Document Title: Nature Inhabited Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine Location: p. 4 Reference: no. 2 (illus.) Publisher: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Date: 1995
Bruegel drew his celebrated mountain landscapes presumably from direct experience on a journey through the Alps, at the time of a stay in Italy from 1552 to 1553. In his biography of the artist in the Schilderboek of 1604, Karel van Mander stated that Bruegel swallowed up the mountains and then spat them out onto his canvases upon his return. Direct evidence for his Alpine journey depends on a very few existing drawings of identifiable sites and on references to lost works depicting known sites. One of these is the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ landscape, unquestionably the masterpiece of the drawing collection.
The sheet remained completely unidentified (despite the inscription on the verso) until Mather published it as Bruegel's work in 1914, although its exceptional quality had been acknowledged by its inclusion in the 1886 facsimile publication of sixteen of the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ drawings. Otto Benesch was the first to propose that the landscape could be identified with the upper Rhine valley in the Grabünden (Grisons) district of Switzerland, near the small town of Waltensburg. He based his identification on the inscription at the top of the sheet, saying it could be in Bruegel's hand. The site is just north of the St. Gotthard Pass, also the subject of a Bruegel painting listed in Rubens's studio.1 Auner attempted to disprove a lengthy Alpine journey, saying it was an itinerary too difficult and irrational for an artist of the time.2 However, all other scholars have agreed that the evidence of the drawings themselves is too strong to deny the trip. Auner did establish that the inscription on the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ sheet could not be autograph, an opinion affirmed by Mielke, though the latter stated that it probably dates from the sixteenth century. Mielke still feels that the inscription refers to Waltensburg.3 Other scholars, however, have felt that a firm identification would depend upon direct examination on the spot, as first suggested by Grossmann. There is a photograph in the BCMA files of the valley at Waltensburg; the visual evidence it offers is inconclusive.
There are two other Bruegel drawings which bear a remarkable affinity in technique and subject matter to the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ sheet. One is the Mountain Landscape with River and a Cross in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam,4 and the other is perhaps Bruegel's most impressive work in this genre, the Landscape in the Upper Rhine Valley in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.5 Benesch has proposed that the Morgan drawing depicts the castle Jörgensberg and village of Ruiz, between Truns and Ilanz, slightly east of Waltensburg.6 The landscape in the Rotterdam drawing is tantalizingly similar—seemingly portraying the same site from a different viewpoint—without being precisely identical. Grossmann's study of the landscape drawings notes these resemblances but stresses that while Bruegel may have been inspired by the same view, these compositions are probably not direct studies from nature.7
All three drawings are highly finished (the Rotterdam sheet has been overlaid with pen and brush, probably by the artist Roelant Savery), both in their carefully composed formats and in the detailed and varied pen strokes delineating trees and rocks. The atmosphere of great height and distance is evoked by subtle gradations of penwork. Most authorities agree that the three drawings are compositions worked up from preliminary rough sketches (though not evident in the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ sheet, some pen drawings have slight black chalk sketches underneath). The three sheets are similarly anchored at the right side by tall stands of fir trees. Close examination of the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ drawing reveals that the two prominent outcroppings of rock in the central portion have been worked over previously drawn and gentler slopes. These changes are skillfully camouflaged by the artist in order to make the new formations appear entirely "natural." The additions considerably strengthen the drawn composition and reinforce the argument that these landscape drawings are "assembled" from different elements.
Müller Hofstede has suggested that the Morgan sheet and others like it were prepared by Bruegel as elaborate presentation drawings for friends and collectors in the Netherlands, as souvenirs of his Alpine trip.8 Its consummate technique and considered composition would suggest a similar function for the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ drawing. It has also been suggested that the vertical format of the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ sheet resulted from its being cut down at some point from a larger, horizontal composition.9 That seems unlikely, for the walking couple at the left and the large group of trees at the right adequately frame the sheet and present a balanced composition. The format is, however, relatively rare in Bruegel's Alpine landscape drawings, although he used it often in his forest scenes.10
The remaining scholarly question about these landscape drawings is their dating. Most scholars have placed the highly finished views such as the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ sheet during or soon after Bruegel's return journey from Italy to Antwerp—i.e., ca. 1553/54, postulating an Alpine journey on his way home. Recently, Konrad Oberhuber has proposed a redating of some of these landscapes to 1551/52, during Bruegel's outward journey to Italy, basing much of his argument on the large drawing in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge.11 He has characterized the major mountain group of that sheet (it was done in three distinct stages, the left foreground being the last) as an essentially "optical" view, without a highly developed landscape aesthetic, which he states Bruegel learned only in Italy. Thus he places the Morgan and º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ sheets and the major portion of the Fogg drawing before Bruegel's arrival in Italy, in contrast to such progressively "organized" views as that dated 1553 in the Louvre12 or one formerly in the Seilern collection,13 also datable to 1553. As there is no documentary proof for either a journey through the Alps in 1551/52 or for the early dating of the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ drawing, any conclusion as to its dating remains tentative.
1. Benesch 1953, p. 79.
2. Auner 1956, pp. 64-75.
3. Ibid., p. 75; Berlin 1975, p. 53.
4. Münz 1961, no. 20.
5. Ibid., no. 21 .
6. Benesch 1953, p. 79.
7. Grossmann 1954, pp. 54, 84.
8. Müller Hofstede 1979, p. 98.
9. De Tolnay 1952, cat. nos. 41-49.
10. Cf. Berlin 1975, cat. nos. 41-49.
11. Oberhuber 1981, passim; the Fogg drawing is repr. in Münz 1961, no. 18.
12. Münz 1961, no. 5.
13. Ibid., no. 15.
Commentary credited to David P. Becker (or not otherwise captioned) appeared in his catalogue Old Master Drawings at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ (Brunswick: º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Museum of Art, 1985).