Matthijs Bril

He spent most of his active career in Rome where his drawings of ancient Roman sites played an important role in the development of topographical landscape art.

This building in the Vatican Palace was built between 1578 and 1580 after a design by the Bolognese architect Ottaviano Mascherino as an astronomical observatory to study the Gregorian Calendar Reform implemented by pope Gregory XIII.

[2] He also painted landscapes in two rooms of the Palazzo Orsini in Monterotondo (north of Rome), which he signed with small glasses (a pun on his surname as the Flemish word 'bril' means 'glasses').

Matthijs contributed to the genre of topographical painting in combining close attention to detail with a perspective that highlights the monumentality of the depicted buildings.

[2] His imaginary landscapes without a topographical interest are more typically Mannerist in their close observation of nature and dramatic contrasts of light and dark.