Jan Brueghel the Elder

This sketch is a copy after a painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder probably made by a studio apprentice or relation. The windmills celebrate an important local technology, while the crowded market road indicates the thriving regional economy.

This finely executed drawing is one of several copies after an oil painting by Jan Breughel the Elder, and was previously thought to have been produced by him. Breughel was one of the leading painters in 17th-century Antwerp. The artist who drafted this sheet was so clearly skilled in replicating Breughel's drawing techniques and style that it may well have been made by a member of his family or studio. Drawings by his son, Jan Breughel the Younger, and by other artists in his circle are difficult to distinguish from drawings signed by the Elder. Although the copyist included minute compositional elements, the drawing technique does not approach the delicacy of Jan the Elder's draftsmanship. This is especially evident in the use of black ink to underline areas of the drawing. Look at the shadows of the wagons and shrubbery in the lower left of the sheet. The heaviness of these lines is uncharacteristic of Jan the Elder. Additionally, none of his signed drawings are preparatory studies for his oil paintings, but instead were intended as finished pieces in themselves. The small scale and highly finished quality of the Elder's drawings made them attractive to collectors in his lifetime; thus, replicating his works would have been lucrative for a copyist, as well as for the Breughel studio. Compositionally, this scene is a departure from traditional Flemish landscapes. Such views, popularized by Jan Breughel the Elder's father, the celebrated Pieter Breughel the Elder (around 1526-69), present a bird's-eye view of mountains, fields, and forests, united in one composition. By dropping the horizon line to the bottom quarter of the paper and placing the roadway at a diagonal to the picture plane, Jan the Elder situates the viewer closer to the land and welcomes his audience into the landscape.