A Tree

While in the service of Emperor Rudolph II of Prague, Roelandt Savery was sent to the Tyrolean Alps to record the “marvels of nature.” It was probably during this trip that he executed this unfinished drawing of a lone tree rising above a rocky ground.

This startlingly spare composition might seem impossibly modern to contemporary eyes. Indeed, some scholars have questioned whether it could really date to the early 1600s and have suggested it might be more comfortably placed in the mid-1800s. However, recent technical analysis indicates that the materials used by the artist were all available in the early 1600s, and the technique is similar to other drawings by Savery.