160 - Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Master of the small landscapes - Van Doetecum - Regiones et villæ rusticæ ducatus potissimum Brabantiæ

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Master of the small landscapes - Van Doetecum - Regiones et villæ rusticæ ducatus potissimum Brabantiæ Description: Landscape with a couple resting along a road, a village beyond. Etched by the van Doetecum brothers circa 1559–1561, during Pieter Bruegel’s lifetime and only a few years after his celebrated alpine landscapes (Pieter Bruegel, d. 1569). From a series depicting highly picturesque village dwellings, country estates, and peasant houses. The series was originally attributed to Bruegel, later to Cornelis Cort, and subsequently to the so-called Master of the Small Landscapes, now identified as possible attribution to Joos van Lier (Josse van Liere, d. 1583). Second state, with the number added by Philips Galle in Antwerp, from the series he titled Regiones et villæ rusticæ ducatus potissimum Brabantiæ. Bastelaer classifies the series in his catalogue raisonné as Bruegel, following Visscher’s later attribution on subsequent editions of these prints (Bastelaer, 1908, no. 20). Dimensions: 13.40 x 19.50 cm Condition: An exceptionally crisp, superbly clear and highly desirable impression on delicate watermarked thin laid paper with well-preserved margins. Apart from a few unobtrusive spots to the lower margin, the sheet is in an outstanding perfect condition. Literature: New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) / The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts 1450-1700 (The Van Doetecum Family)(133.II) ----- Philips Galle edition: 1601. ------Egbert Haverkamp Begemann, 'Joos van Liere' in Pieter Bruegel und seine Welt (Berlin, 1979) pp. 17-28. Medium: Etching Date: 1559-1561