City in the Mountains
n.d.
Medium
Pen and black ink, on tan tracing paper, laid down on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
16.7 × 11.3 cm (6 5/8 × 4 1/2 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
8316
Art Historical Context
**City in the Mountains** by Rodolphe Bresdin1822–1885) invites visitors into a fantastical vision of towering architecture nestled amid jagged peaks. This intimate pen and ink drawing, undated and measuring just 16.7 × 11.3 cm, captures Bresdin's signature style as a 19th-century French draftsman. Renowned for his meticulous, otherworldly landscapes, Bresdinoften called a precursor to Symbolism—crafted intricate scenes blending Romantic imagination with architectural precision, evoking a sense of mystery and the sublime. Executed in black ink on tan tracing paper and laid down on ivory laid ...
About the Artist
Rodolphe Bresdin · 1822–1885
Rodolphe Bresdin (1822–1885) was a visionary French draughtsman, engraver, and lithographer whose fantastical imagery captured the empathy of rural poverty and the wild exuberance of the imagination. Born on August 12, 1822, in Montrelais near Le Fresne-sur-Loire in Brittany, he grew up in the Breton countryside amid its bardic folklore traditions before a family dispute left him homeless in Paris...