Grotto and Friars, from The Ruins of Rome
1639/1640
Medium
Etching in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 10 × 6.1 cm (3 15/16 × 2 7/16 in.); Sheet: 10.2 × 6.3 cm (4 1/16 × 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
106671
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Bartholomeus Breenbergh produced a series of 50 small-scale etchings of Roman ruins based on drawings he made in Rome during the 1620s. He worked them into prints after his return to the Netherlands and published them as a set around 1640. His paintings and prints did not yet show the influence of Rembrandt’s experimental effects with the etching needle. As a result, this scene of tiny religious figures huddled under an outcropping of rock is more documentary than emotionally charged.
About the Artist
Bartholomeus Breenbergh · 1598–1657
Probably was apprenticed in Amsterdam. He was one of the early Dutch italianates, that is, northern artists who travelled to Italy in the 1620s and were inspired by southern landscapes. On his return, he settled in Amsterdam and his landscapes were developed as more severe and monumental, often with historical subjects; strongly influenced by the Pre-Rembrandtists. Comment on works: Landscapes; Ru...