Farmhouse Seen Through an Arch

Jan Asselijn produced copious numbers of drawings and two of his sketchbooks survive, although pages of one have been dispersed. His graphic works are primarily populated by ruins, buildings, and landscapes. A masonry portal, darkened by shadows, frames the view onto a humble edifice in this pen and brown ink drawing. Asselijn used a similar compositional device in several of his paintings, including a striking example in Hartford, Connecticut now at the Wadsworth Atheneum. While he sketched both outdoors and in the studio, the subject matter of the present drawing suggests that it was rendered outside.