03 — ARTWORK
Italian Landscape with Draughtsman
- MEDIUM
- Oil on canvas, 187 x 240 cm
- TYPE
- Landscape
PALETTE
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CURRENT LOCATION · Rijksmuseum
- FILE
- 1365 × 1050 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Italian Landscape with Draughtsman c. 1650 Oil on canvasA woven cloth used as a support for painting. The best-quality canvas is made of linen; other materials used are cotton, hemp, and jute. It is now so familiar a material that the word 'canvas' has become almost a synonym for an oil painting, but it was not until around 1500 that it began to rival the wooden panel (which was more expensive and took longer to prepare) as the standard support for movable paintings (the transition came later in Northern Europe than in Italy). Canvas is not suitable for painting on until it has been coated with a ground, which isolates the fabric from the paint; otherwise it will absorb too much paint, only very rough effects will be obtainable, and parts of the fabric may be rotted by the pigments. It must also be made taut on a stretcher or by some other means., 187 x 240 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Jan Both was one of the best known of the Dutch painters living in Italy for varying length of time in the 17th century (the so-called Italianates). They painted landscapes without depicting a specific topography and almost all their works are imaginary compositions. Both's painting - although includes a draughtsman - is no exception. It shows a waterfall and a small gorge overgrown with bushes and trees close to a country road with a bridge which has just been crossed by a travelling party consisting of a carriage drawn by two horses led by grooms. By the side of the road are three groups of two figures each, all wearing rather rustic garbs.Judging by their poses and the sheet of paper held by one of them they are artists surveying the countryside. Opening up on the right is a broad view of the Roman campagna. Both painted the scene with remarkably light, bright colours, and exploited the effect of the sunlight to the full.
OTHER WORKS BY JAN BOTH
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-raa4fb6d7bc6685,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Italian Landscape with Draughtsman by BOTH, Jan},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-14},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/both-jan-rd5b76c7ac324b8/italian-landscape-with-draughtsman-raa4fb6d7bc6685},
urldate = {2026-09-14},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-14. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.