An Italian farmhouse on a rocky crag

The Dutch-born Poelenburgh spent nine years (1617-26) in Rome before returning to his native Utrecht for the remainder of his career. This drawing is similar to other ones from his Roman period. Chong dates it to circa 1620. It can be compared to his other views of the Roman countryside such as House on a hill in the Museum Boymans-van-Beuningen, Rotterdam (Chong, op. cit., p. 34, fig. 16). Both have the same application of brown wash which shows light and shadow across the landscape and building façade as well as the same motif of a farmhouse seen from below at a steep angle. Poelenburgh was part of a circle of northern artists working in Rome in the early 17th century, which included Adam Elsheimer, Paul Bril and Bartolomäus Breenbergh to whom this drawing has previously been attributed.