Accession Number
1958.410
Medium
brush and black ink, brush and gray wash, and black chalk; framing lines in black and brown ink
Dimensions
Sheet: 30.4 x 52 cm (11 15/16 x 20 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Delia E. Holden Fund
Tags
Drawing Baroque (1600–1750) Ink Dutch
Background & Context
Background Story
Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683) was a Dutch painter known for the Italianate landscapes that make him one of the most important painters of the Dutch Italianate school. Mountainous Landscape from c. 1680 depicts a mountainous landscape in the warm, golden Italianate manner that distinguishes Berchem's best landscapes from the more tonal landscape painting of his Dutch contemporaries. The c. 1680 date places this in Berchem's mature period, when he was producing the warm, golden Italianate landscapes that are his most accomplished works.
Cultural Impact
Mountainous Landscape is important in the history of Dutch Italianate landscape painting because it demonstrates the warm, golden manner that Berchem brought to Italianate subjects as one of the most important painters of the Dutch Italianate school. Berchem's Italianate landscapes—combining warm, golden light with mountainous Italian scenery—represent the Dutch Italianate tradition at its most accomplished, and the c. 1680 painting shows this tradition at its most popular and influential.
Why It Matters
Mountainous Landscape is Berchem's warm Italianate manner: a mountainous landscape rendered in the golden, atmospheric light that distinguishes one of the most important painters of the Dutch Italianate school. The c. 1680 painting shows the Italianate landscape tradition at its most popular—warm, golden, and atmospheric.
