Perspectival Study with a View of a Medieval City
1600–1650
Medium
Pen and black ink, touches of red chalk
Dimensions
6-3/4 x 11-3/8 in. (17.2 x 28.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Katrin Bellinger, 1998
Accession Number
1998.41.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Matthäus Merian the Elder’s *Perspectival Study with a View of a Medieval City* offers a fascinating glimpse into 17th-century artistic practice. Created between 1600 and 1650, this compact drawing captures the orderly streets, towering churches, and clustered rooftops of an imagined medieval town. Merian, a skilled draftsman and printmaker, uses the scene to explore spatial depth, guiding the viewer’s eye along converging lines that lend a convincing sense of recession and scale. Executed in pen and black ink with subtle touches of red chalk, the work highlights the precision required for ar...