A Castle, plate 22 from "Regiunculae et Villae Aliquot Ducatus Brabantiae"
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/8 × 6 3/16 in. (10.5 × 15.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933
Accession Number
33.52.26
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching, titled *A Castle*, forms plate 22 in Claes Jansz. Visscher’s series *Regiunculae et Villae Aliquot Ducatus Brabantiae*, published around 1610. Visscher, a leading Dutch printmaker of the early seventeenth century, often worked in the tradition of the so-called Master of the Small Landscapes, producing intimate views of the countryside and architecture of the Duchy of Brabant (now parts of Belgium and the Netherlands). The small sheet—just over four by six inches—captures a fortified residence nestled among trees, inviting viewers to appreciate both the region’s historic ...
About the Artist
Claes Jansz. Visscher|Claes Jansz. Visscher|The Master of the Small Landscapes · 1586–1652
Claes Jansz. Visscher, also known as Nicolas Joannis Visscher II or Joannis Piscator, was a prominent Dutch Golden Age draughtsman, engraver, mapmaker, and publisher born in Amsterdam in 1587 and died there on June 19, 1652. The son of the printmaker and publisher Jan Claesz. Visscher (c. 1550–1612), he learned the art of etching and printing from his father, helping to expand the family trade int...