Landscape with the Great Ruins, from The Small Landscapes - Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert

Print Sales Miscellaneous Fund

"Landscape with the Great Ruins, from The Small Landscapes" by Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert (c. 1638) Engraving on ivory laid paper.

Commentary

"Landscape with the Great Ruins, from The Small Landscapes" by Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert (c. 1638) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. The print-based method rewards close viewing, where line, texture, and co ntrast do most of the expressive work. Themes to notice include engraving. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Schelte Adamsz. The work is cataloged within a Flanders cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as engraving, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Engraving on ivory laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 32.9 × 44.2 cm (13 × 17 7/16 in.); Plate: 34.5 × 45.2 cm (13 5/8 × 17 13/16 in.); Sheet: 36.1 × 46 cm (14 1/4 × 18 1/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include engraving. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/23632

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data