Forest Landscape with Wild Animals
late 16th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink on buff laid paper, laid down on card
Dimensions
Primary support: 36 × 24.4 cm (14 3/16 × 9 5/8 in.); Secondary support: 47.8 × 36.5 cm (18 7/8 × 14 3/8 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109142
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This drawing belongs to a group of some 20 similar sheets that record compositions by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (most of which are now lost). Far from direct observation, they are inventions that use landscape motifs for imaginative purposes. Because of the relative novelty of landscape compositions as independent of narrative or devotional subjects, Bruegel’s landscape drawings provided new inspiration for the artists who had access to his works. As such, drawings made after his compositions not...