The Large Landscapes: Solicitudo Rustica

In the Netherlands, Pieter Bruegel’s designs for a series of large landscape prints may have relied on sketches (now lost) he made passing through the Alps in the early 1550s. This view is more a compendium of various visual characteristics of the Alps, rather than a specific place. The elevated point of view and massive, powerful cliffs and crags in the distance give way to a river valley and flat plains akin to Bruegel’s Low Countries homeland. The figures include peasants whose mundane activities reinforce the landscape as a container for “rustic cares” (solicitudo rustica).