BRUEGHEL, Jan the Elder
(b. ca. 1568, Brussel, d. 1625, Antwerpen)

River Landscape

1602-03
Oil on copper, 18 x 23 cm
Private collection

This early landscape by Jan Brueghel the Elder depicts a river running through a small town, with a cattle ferry on the water and rowing boats setting off from the left bank. The painting marks the starting point of Brueghel's trials with the theme of the river landscape, one that he would develop over the ensuing decade and that would culminate in the expansive and highly-populated masterpieces of the 1610s.