A river landscape with two sailing boats (recto); A rugged landscape with figures by a river (verso)

Van Wieringen was one of the foremost early practitioners of Dutch marine art. Although few of his paintings survive, a relatively large and thematically varied group of his drawings are known. In many of these van Wieringen combines manneristic and realistic features. These two different styles can also be found in the present drawing: while the river landscape on the recto is rather realistic in approach, the rugged landscape on the verso is executed in a more expressive style. The spirited penwork of the verso shows the influence of van Wieringen's contemporary Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) and it may be compared to Goltzius' Mountainous landscape in the Herzog-Anton-Ulrich-Museum in Braunschweig (see E.K.J. Reznicek, Die Zeichnungen von Hendrick Goltzius, Utrecht, 1961, p. 425, no. K 394, pl. 237).