Landscape with Roman Ruins

A pen and brown wash drawing shows a crumbling ruin of columns, pilasters and arched openings rising on the right, overgrown with shrubs. Rocky ledges and a large boulder sit in the foreground, while a pale, hazy plain stretches to the left.

Look closer: A small arched doorway with a dark opening sits low in the rock beneath the ruin.

Artist

Cornelis van Poelenburch

Date

1609–67

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown, green and gray wash over faint traces of black chalk. Pasted down.

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2244 × 3126 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Harry G. Sperling, 1971