Views of Villages in Brabant and Campine: A Moated Village (c. 1561): Art, History and Details

Views of Villages in Brabant and Campine: A Moated Village (c. 1561) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Master of the Small Landscapes (Flemish).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Part of a second, larger series of 30 prints, this work illustrates a village scene around Brussels. The preliminary drawing is shown beside the print, which is reversed--a consequence of the printmaking process. While the engraver closely followed the composition of the drawing, the images are not exactly alike. The printmaker changed a number of details, such as removing the figure on the arched bridge and adding stairs leading to the water on the left. The most significant change, however, is the way the image was cropped--the sides cut off and the foreground enlarged--resulting in a change of perspective. In addition, the spontaneous quality of the drawing is virtually lost in the print. Compare the surface of the water and the reflections of the plants and buildings in these two works.

Object facts

• Title: Views of Villages in Brabant and Campine: A Moated Village
• Date: c. 1561
• Creator attribution: Master of the Small Landscapes (Flemish)
• Culture: Flanders
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching and engraving
• Dimensions: Image: 12.8 x 20.4 cm (5 1/16 x 8 1/16 in.); Sheet: 12.8 x 20.4 cm (5 1/16 x 8 1/16 in.); Mounted: 17.8 x 21.9 cm (7 x 8 5/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1964.404

A detail from the museum

Though this and other towns in the same series share familiar features with some Netherlandish villages, none of the exact locales can be identified.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.