A Wooded Landscape with a Town beyond a Bridge and Distant Mountains

This dynamic depiction of soaring pine trees with their dripping tendrils together with the panoramic river scene is a fine example of pure landscape drawing. The trees tower above the modest signs of human habitation signaled by the tiny bridge and church in the distant background.

This deference to nature together with the dynamic, emotionally charged pen work, evidenced by rapid parallel hatching and calligraphic contour lines, can be associated with sixteenth-century German artists, such as Albrecht Altdorfer and Wolf Huber, who were working in cities along the Danube River.

Digital image and text courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.