Swiss Landscape

Urs Graf

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Urs Graf. The drawing shows a mountainous landscape, with a valley to the left, a rocky hillside to the right and a rounded hill in the background. The buildings of a town are positioned on the rocks to the right and in the middle distance on the left, and there is a city wall running along the top of the rocks from the centre of the composition round to the left edge. In the left foreground a winding path leads to the door of a house in the middle distance. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 31 URS GRAF (b. about 1485; d. 1529) SWISS LANDSCAPE In the Collection of Mr. G. T. Clough, High Barnet (from the Collection of Sir J. C. Robinson). Pen and Indian ink (rather blacker than in the reproduction) on white paper; watermark, small bull's head with Tau cross. 20.5 x 14.6 cm. (8 x 5 3/4 in.) A sketch of a small Swiss town with hgih-pitched roofs, sheltered by a hill and fortified by a curtain wall with several towers, which climbs to a fortress perched at a considerable height above the town itself. The view is partially interupted by a great overhanging rock at the foot of which is a winding stream or road. Such studies from the scenery of his native country, intended to serve as backgrounds, or drawn simply for their own sake, are frequent in the work of Urs Graf, goldsmith and painter, of Solothurn and Basel, whose hand is easily recognized in this characteristic, though unsigned, sketch. C. D."