Landscape with a Moated Village

About the Artwork

The so-called small landscapes published in Antwerp in the late 1550s constitute a turning point in the history of landscape as a genre. This drawing and its related print (1964.404) from the series present the local countryside in a simple, unembellished composition from a level point of view. The artist portrayed the rustic village, pasture, and country road in a straightforward and immediate fashion. The title page for the series, issued by publisher Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp, advertised that the views were made “from the life” (naer d’leven), thus are real places directly observed. Such humble sites would define the golden age of Dutch landscape in the following century.

Inscriptions

[signed?], lower left, in brown ink: P BREVGHEL [1625 ?][date erased, legible under UV] ; upper left, in graphite: a

Exhibition history

Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-April 28, 1937). Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-December 9, 1937). Drawings from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, London. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 30-October 30, 1938). Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-October 3, 1940). Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 17-August 24, 1942). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). The Vocabulary of Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 29-December 31, 1975). Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Graphics. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-August 1, 1982). National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983). Northern Landscape Traditions: 16th and 17th Century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 10-December 31, 1989). Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-October 29, 2023).

Quick Overview

Artist: Master of the Small Landscapes (Flemish)
Date: 1559–61
Medium: pen and brown ink; framing lines in brown ink (bottom)
Dimensions: Sheet: 16.7 x 31.2 cm (6 9/16 x 12 5/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Dudley P. Allen Fund by exchange
Accession no.: 1929.552

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.