The Boulder Crowned with Trees
A boulder crowned with trees rises in an oval landscape framed by overhanging branches, with distant mountains and a winding path where a small figure gives the scene its scale. More about this work
About this work
A boulder crowned with trees rises in an oval landscape framed by overhanging branches, with distant mountains and a winding path where a small figure gives the scene its scale. Herman van Swanevelt, a Dutch painter who spent many years in Rome and worked alongside Claude Lorrain, helped spread the Italianate ideal of landscape, with its soft light and classical calm, to northern artists, largely through etchings like this one. The fine, delicate lines suggest foliage and atmosphere with remarkable economy.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
The image shows a landscape viewed from above. The scene is oval, framed by tree branches on each side. Distant mountains form a boundary near the top. Delicate, finely executed lines create detailed foliage and landscape features. A winding path with a small figure adds scale. Lush trees climb upwards, with a muted color palette of the paper and dark brown and black lines providing contrast.
Description from the National Gallery of Art.
How it was made
- Etching
- The artist draws with a needle through a waxy coating on a copper plate, and acid bites the exposed lines. The plate is then inked, wiped and printed under pressure, so the line keeps the freedom of drawing.
Herman van Swanevelt
Dutch, c. 1600–1655
Van Swanevelt, from Woerden in Holland, spent the late 1620s and 1630s in Rome, where he worked in the circle of Claude Lorrain and became one of the Dutch painters who carried the golden light of the Roman Campagna into northern landscape. He settled in Paris in the 1640s, painted decorations there and became a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. His many landscape etchings spread his Italianate style widely.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1973.32.18
- Credit
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Type
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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