A View of Bracciano with the Church of S. Maria Assunta

About the Artwork

In the early 1600s, artists from Northern Europe began to take long trips to Italy as part of their artistic training. Bartholomeus Breenberg traveled to Italy around 1620 and probably stayed for at least 12 years. While there, he sketched ancient ruins and the countryside, features he would use in his paintings when he returned to Amsterdam in the 1630s. The area around the Lago di Bracciano, a volcanic lake northwest of Rome, was home to several medieval villages that provided charming vistas for artists. In his view, Breenberg emphasized the crumbling turret of a medieval castle in Bracciano in front of the ordered, linear outline of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta beyond. Combining gray and brown ink washes to plot gradations in tone, he created vivid contrasts of light and shade, capturing the effects of the bright Italian sunshine.

Inscriptions

Written in brown ink on recto of mount, lower left: "Bracciano"; Written in brown ink on recto of mount, lower right: "J. Bischop"; Written in pencil on recto of mount, lower right: "610"; Written in pencil on verso of mount: "53"

Provenance

with Johan Bosch van Rosenthal Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH March 2, 2020: the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Exhibition history

Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).

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

Quick Overview

Artist: Bartholomeus Breenberg (Dutch, 1599–1657)
Date: c. 1619–33
Medium: Brown and gray inks and washes applied with point of brush and brush, with traces of graphite underdrawing on cream antique laid paper
Dimensions: Image and Sheet: 8.7 x 15 cm (3 7/16 x 5 7/8 in.); Mounted: 23.6 x 30.8 cm (9 5/16 x 12 1/8 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift
Accession no.: 2020.127

Open-access museum record · AT-00011221