A Track on the Edge of a Wood with a Peasant Carrying Sheep

Known exclusively for his drawings and prints, the Dutch artist Anthonie Waterloo specialized in tree studies and dense forest scenes such as this drawing. The vista here was probably made when he visited the Veluwe region of the Netherlands, in the southern province of Gelderland along the Rhine, in the 1640s. The landscape there was known for its woodlands, heathland, panoramic views, and sand drift, producing vistas drastically different than those of the flat, northwestern Netherlandish provinces. Waterloo's technique of using wet charcoal over dry chalk produced the effect of shimmering light and movement across the complex group of trees that are the feature of the drawing. Waterloo made and sold his drawings as finished works of art.