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This signed and dated, crisply painted work on copper is a rare example of Frederik van Valckenborch's mountainous landscapes. It depicts a mountainous village landscape with waterfalls, mills, a castle on a hill, various animals, and figures in the foreground.
Valckenborch's style is characterized by an exaggerated compositional design which contrasts with Flemish contemporaries such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, whose landscapes were decidedly more languid and peaceful in their design. This painting features intricately composed, highly detailed, yet otherworldly rock formations that dominate half of the composition, with their compositions essentially bisected into land and sky. The lower foreground is abuzz in activity with miners, builders, and water-mill attendants going about their daily duties. In the middle background rests a tavern, a fitting accompaniment to the laborious stations below, while further up the mountain one can faintly discern a group of travelers hiking towards the castle or hermitage at the peak.
The painting was executed when Valckenborch was living in Nuremburg under the employ of the Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias.
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