Dilapidated Barn with Herd and Cattle, from Landscapes (Verscheyden aerdige Lanthuysen...)
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 10.3 × 15.9 cm (4 1/16 × 6 5/16 in.); sheet: 18 × 26.1 cm (7 1/8 × 10 5/16 in.)
Classification
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
268429
Art Historical Context
Claes Jansz. Visscher's *Dilapidated Barn with Herd and Cattle* (1620) captures the rustic charm of the Dutch countryside during the Golden Age. This etching, part of his series *Verscheyden aerdige Lanthuysen* (Varied Pleasant Landscapes), depicts a weathered barn sheltering a herd of cattle amidst open fields, evoking the everyday rural life that fascinated 17th-century viewers. Visscher, a masterful Amsterdam printmaker, produced these works amid Holland's economic boom, when landscapes celebrated the nation's prosperity and harmony with nature. Etching on ivory laid paper—a fine, creamy s...
About the Artist
Claes Jansz. Visscher · 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...