Domenico Campagnola

The style and motifs of this drawing may be compared with a group of early landscapes by Campagnola, probably executed ca. 1517-20, the largest group of which is in the Louvre.

The drawing suffers from the additions of a later hand with grey ink, which can be seen in different places: The right tree, which is mainly indicated as a trunk with few branches and leaves, received a more luxuriant crown and foliage; staffage figures were added to enliven the sides of the river bank approximately at the middle; the bush at the edge of the terrain in the middle of the representation was enlarged and a "new" one at the right margin was added; the entire foreground was provided with additional small structures and also the surface of the river received further hatching, especially in its two lateral bends.

As noted by Tobias Nickel, Campagnola's depiction of the city was copied in red chalk by Antoine Watteau around 1714/17 (Dublin, at the National Gallery of Ireland, Inv. No. NGI.3822, 210 x 260 mm) and received a supplementary paper strip of about 2 cm at the upper margin. The drawing is otherwise undamaged and less wide than the original (192 x 299 mm). In Watteau's realization it becomes apparent that the abovementioned additions in grey ink were not known to him - or that he deliberately ignored them – though it is more likely that the additions were made after Watteau executed his copy. The existence of a copy by Watteau almost certain indicates that the original drawing was in the collection of Pierre Crozat.