Skeleton Hanging from a Tree in a Landscape
late 16th–early 17th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and grayish-brown wash, over black chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 7 1/2 x 10 3/4 in. (19 x 27.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2003
Accession Number
2003.322
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 16th to early 17th century Flemish artist Paul Bril crafted this haunting drawing, *Skeleton Hanging from a in a Landscape*, using pen and brown ink with brush and grayish-brown wash over chalk. Measuring just 7½ x 10¾ inches, this intimate sheet captures a skeletal figure suspended from a gnarled tree amid a sprawling, atmospheric vista—evoking the vanitas tradition popular in Northern European art, symbols of mortality remind viewers of life's transience. Bril, of a prominent family of landscape painters who worked in Rome and for patrons like the Gonzaga court, excelled in deta...