Landscape with Farm Houses and Cattle

The “Small Landscapes” are two sets of 44 etchings published by Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp in 1559 and 1561. They are among the first printed views to be everyday in motif, unpretentious in form, and free of religious or mythological elements. They also begin to take advantage of etching to convey a more immediate, sensory experience of nature. In both regards, they are ancestors of Dutch landscape etching of the next century. The “Small Landscapes” reproduce pen-and-ink drawings, of which a dozen are extant. Various artists have been proposed as their author, including Brueghel, Cort, Hans Bol, and most plausibly Cock himself. The etchings are likely by one of his regular engravers, Jan or Lucas van Duetecum.