Master of the Small Landscapes

The first series was published in 1559 with the title Multifarium casularum ruriumque lineamenta curiose ad vivum expressa (translated as: 'Many and very beautiful places of diverse village dwellings, homesteads, files, streets, and such like, and furnished with all sorts of small animals.

The second series was published in 1561 with the title Praediorum villarum et rusticarum caularum icons elegantissimi ('Elegant pictures of country manours, villas and cottages drawn from life in copper plates').

A third edition was published by Philips Galle in 1601 in Antwerp under the title Regiunculae et villae aliquot ducatus Brabantiae a. P. Breughelio delineatae et in pictorum gratiam a Nicolao Joannis Piscatore excusae et in lucem editae, Amstelodami ('Small Counties and Villages primarily in the duchy of Brabant').

Visscher himself as the original plates for the series had remained in Antwerp in the possession of the Galle publishing house.

Visscher made changes to the original prints by reducing their size, cropping the images and making alterations to the staffage.

This series showed that there was an increased interest in landscapes with serious subjects but without any need for consistency of either religious or mythological themes.

[4] This evolution in the representation of the landscape reflected a shift in the clientele for art towards the urban middle-class, who regarded both the countryside and its peasants from a hierarchical distance as well as a pleasurable condescension and even humor.

[4] It also represented a philosophical move towards a humanist view of the world as reflected by the humanist philosopher Desiderius Erasmus in his work the 'Antibarbarians', which glorified the enjoyment of a 'sancta rusticitas' (holy rusticity) in the countryside as a means to cultivate true wisdom.