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Source Description
These three drawings, which depict seated peasants at a market in the city and a team of horses led by a herder on horseback, are part of a group of approximately 80 observational drawings by Savery. His farmers, market vendors, and other everyday people are never posed and rarely glance at the viewer. Savery marked each drawing with detailed instructions regarding the colors to be used later and the words <em>naer het leven</em> (from the life). The works were made in Prague when Savery was employed at the court of the great patron and art collector Emperor Rudolf II, demonstrating that interest in peasant life extended even to the highest echelons of society.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
124115
label
Two Bohemian Peasants in Half-Length
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
124115
contentType
drawing
title
Two Bohemian Peasants in Half-Length
description
These three drawings, which depict seated peasants at a market in the city and a team of horses led by a herder on horseback, are part of a group of approximately 80 observational drawings by Savery. His farmers, market vendors, and other everyday people are never posed and rarely glance at the viewer. Savery marked each drawing with detailed instructions regarding the colors to be used later and the words <em>naer het leven</em> (from the life). The works were made in Prague when Savery was employed at the court of the great patron and art collector Emperor Rudolf II, demonstrating that interest in peasant life extended even to the highest echelons of society.
date
c. 1600
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79901774
creators
12953
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 15.1 x 18.8 cm (5 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
cul
Flanders
accession
1945.114
Source extras
tec
Pen and light- and dark-brown inks over preliminary drawing in black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink
tombstone
Two Bohemian Peasants in Half-Length, c. 1600. Roelant Savery (Flemish, 1576–1639). Pen and light- and dark-brown inks over preliminary drawing in black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink; sheet: 15.1 x 18.8 cm (5 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1945.114
supportMaterials
description
beige(1) laid paper
collection
DR - Flemish
inscriptions
inscription
by artist, upper left, in brown ink: omberne / hoet ; by artist, upper right, in brown ink: gr[y?]sse hoed [=gray hat]; by artist, upper center, in black chalk: [illegible] ; by artist, upper center, in black chalk: [illegible] ; by artist, left center, in brown ink: [brúinockker?] rock [=brown-ochre mantel]; by artist, center, in brown ink: zwartter rock [=black mantel]; by artist, lower left, in brown ink: [nart?] het leuen [=taken from life]; VERSO, lower left, in blue pencil: WCA805 / WCA803
citations
citation
Francis, Henry. "A Drawing by Pieter Bruegel the Elder." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>33, no. 4 (April 1946): 44-46.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 44; Mentioned: p. 45
citation
De Tolnay, Charles. <em>The Drawings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, With a Critical Catalogue. </em>London: A. Zwemmer, 1952.
page_number
84, no. 112 (as Bruegel)
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 585
citation
Münz, Ludwig, and Luke Herrmann. <em>Bruegel: the drawings.</em> London: Phaidon, 1961.
page_number
223-224, no. 120 (as Bruegel)
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 105
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 105
citation
Spicer, Joaneath Ann, “The ‘Naer Het Leven’ Drawings: By Pieter Bruegel or Roelandt Savery?” Master Drawings Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring, 1970): pp. 3-30, 63-82.
page_number
pp. 6, 15, 25; pl. 5
citation
Kuznet︠s︡ov, I︠U︡, and T. A. T︠S︡eshkovskai︠a︡.<em> Dessins flamands et hollandais du dix-septième siècle. Collections de l'Ermitage, Leningrad et du Musée Pouchkine, Moscou. </em>Exh. cat. Bruxelles: Bibliothèque royale Albert Ier, boulevard de l'Empereur, 3, 1972.
page_number
216-17 (as Bruegel)
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 122
citation
Spicer-Durham, Joaneath Ann. <em>The Drawings of Roelandt Savery." </em>PhD diss, Yale University, 1979.
page_number
no. C 208
citation
Liess, Reinhard. "Die Kleinen Landschaften Pieter Bruegels D.A. Im Lichte Seines Gesamtwerks: 2. Teil." <em>Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch Graz / Institute Fur Kunstgeschichte </em>17 (1981): 35-150.
page_number
37-38, 47, 70, 87, 96-97, 103-05, 110 (as Bruegel)
citation
Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta. <em>Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire, 1540-1680: A Selection from North American Collections.</em> Princeton, N.J.: Art Museum, Princeton University in association with Princeton University Press, 1982.
page_number
168-169, no. 62
citation
Dunbar, Burton L., and Edward J. Olszewski. <em>Drawings in Midwestern Collections: A Corpus</em>. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996.
page_number
61-63, no. 38
citation
Peters, Emily J., Laura Ritter, William Griswold, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, and Koenraad Jonckheere. Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. Cleveland, OH : Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 203, no. 59
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:23:54.693000
sourceId
124115
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Flemish
med
Pen and light- and dark-brown inks over preliminary drawing in black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
5da234bd99aaaab2