The Three Trees

Art Historical Context

Anthonie Waterloo’s *The Three Trees* captures the quiet majesty of the natural world through a delicate etching created in the 17th century. As a Dutch artist working during the Dutch Golden Age, Waterloo specialized in landscape prints that celebrated the subtle beauty of trees, skies, and terrain. This intimate work, measuring just 5 3/8 by 6 7/8 inches, invites close looking, rewarding viewers with its careful observation of form and light. The medium of etching allowed artists like Waterloo to achieve fine lines and tonal variety that evoke the textures of bark and foliage. As the first state of three, this impression preserves the artist’s initial vision before later revisions, offering a rare glimpse into the creative process. Such prints were widely circulated in the period, making landscape imagery accessible beyond the walls of private collections. Now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Drawings and Prints collection, *The Three Trees* reminds us of the enduring appeal of nature as a subject. Its modest scale and focused composition encourage museum visitors to pause and appreciate the simple elegance of trees rendered with remarkable sensitivity.

About the Artist

Anthonie Waterloo · 1609–1690

Anthonie Waterloo (1609–1690) was a prominent Dutch Golden Age landscape artist, born on May 6 in Lille, then part of the Spanish Netherlands. Little is known of his early life beyond his mother, Magdalena Vaillant, who joined Amsterdam's Walloon Church in 1621, with Waterloo following in 1630; no records exist of formal training, and he was likely self-taught. Registered as a painter in Amsterdam...