Rocks Overgrown with Bushes
17th century
Medium
Black chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 6 5/16 x 8 7/8 in. (16.1 x 22.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Anne K. and E. Powis Jones Gift, 2006
Accession Number
2006.299
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in the 17th century by Dutch artist Francois van Knibbergen, *Rocks Overgrown with Bushes* exemplifies the period’s growing fascination with landscape as an independent subject. Working in black chalk on a modest sheet measuring just over 6 by 8 inches, van Knibbergen captured the rugged textures of stone and foliage with delicate yet precise strokes. This intimate scale invites close viewing, revealing the artist’s sensitivity to light and form in nature. Van Knibbergen belonged to the vibrant Dutch Golden Age tradition, when artists increasingly turned to their own countryside for i...