# A View of Bracciano with the Church of S. Maria Assunta

**Bartholomeus Breenberg** (Dutch, 1599–1657)  
c. 1619–33  
Brown and gray inks and washes applied with point of brush and brush, with traces of graphite underdrawing on cream antique laid paper  
Image and Sheet: 8.7 x 15 cm (3 7/16 x 5 7/8 in.); Mounted: 23.6 x 30.8 cm (9 5/16 x 12 1/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2020.127. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.127).

## About this work

In the early 1600s, artists from Northern Europe began to take long trips to Italy as part of their artistic training. Bartholomeus Breenberg traveled to Italy around 1620 and probably stayed for at least 12 years. While there, he sketched ancient ruins and the countryside, features he would use in his paintings when he returned to Amsterdam in the 1630s. The area around the Lago di Bracciano, a volcanic lake northwest of Rome, was home to several medieval villages that provided charming vistas for artists. In his view, Breenberg emphasized the crumbling turret of a medieval castle in Bracciano in front of the ordered, linear outline of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta beyond. Combining gray and brown ink washes to plot gradations in tone, he created vivid contrasts of light and shade, capturing the effects of the bright Italian sunshine.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Bartholomeus Breenberg drew this in about 1619–33, aged about 15. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Graphite.** Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.
- **Laid paper.** Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

### [Bartholomeus Breenberg](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/bartholomeus-breenberg)

Dutch, 1599–1657

## Facts

- Type: Drawing
- Culture: Netherlands
- The artist was about 15
- Real size: about 3½ × 6 in (9 × 15 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 17th century
- Movement: [Dutch Golden Age](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/dutch-golden-age)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/453.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/453/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/a-view-of-bracciano-with-the-church-of-s-maria-assunta-cma-80647).