Valley with an Aged Castle
Medium
chalk manner and aquatint with etching and roulette printed in black ink on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 18.5 × 28.8 cm (7 5/16 × 11 5/16 in.) cut within platemark
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Sherwood B. Smith, Jr.
Accession Number
1977.67.24
Art Historical Context
This evocative landscape print, titled *Valley with an Aged Castle*, captures the romantic allure of a crumbling ruin nestled in a serene valley. Created in 1784 and published two years later, it represents a collaborative effort by Cornelis Ploos van Amstel as editor and Cornelis Brouwer as printmaker, working after an original composition by the 17th-century Dutch artist Jan van der Meer II. Such reproductive prints were highly valued in the late 18th century for making celebrated Dutch Golden Age scenes accessible to a wider audience beyond private collections. The work showcases sophistic...