Lot Essay
The traditional attribution to Brill seems plausible as the handling of the bodycolour is similar to landscapes painted in Rome. The characteristic shape and colouring of the foliage and the contrast of pale and dark leaves is comparable with A Fantastic Landscape on copper, of the 1590s, in the National Gallery, London, C. Brown, Dutch Landscape: the Early Years, London, 1986, colour illustration p. 91. The dating of this drawing is problematic as Brill's depiction of trees altered little during his career, L. Salerno, Pittori di paessaggio del Seicento a Roma, Rome, 1977, nos. 2.2-2.22