Landscapes
German by birth, Wals was a key figure in the generation of Northern painters who took the Roman countryside, with its ancient monuments and ruins, as their subject.
These artists, Claude Lorrain most notable among them, made drawings from nature.
Wals specialized in small-scale paintings, translating his drawings into highly evocative paintings that rarely have an identifiable narrative.
Mountainous Landscape at Tivoli
This sketch may depict the hills to the north of the road into Tivoli from Vicovaro.
The sketch is likely related to the view Denis painted of the latter town (2003.42.22) that is underscored not only by its size but by its sensibility.
Denis defines the recession of landscape elements - from the field in the foreground to the line of trees and the escarpment beyond - mostly in green tones, with contrasting pink in the sky.
Landscape with a Cottage
This duneland scene is characteristic of a major shift in Dutch landscape painting of the 1620s.
Painters began to render modest scenes of local topography in a somber palette of browns, grays, and greens.