Art, literature & history
A Romanesque Ruin
1650–51
- Dating
- Date range
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Black chalk, with brush and gray wash, on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- 9.8 × 15.8 cm (3 7/8 × 6 1/4 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1961.380
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Jan van Goyen. A Romanesque Ruin. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
A Romanesque Ruin — Jan van Goyen. 1650–51.
Medium: Black chalk, with brush and gray wash, on ivory laid paper. Dimensions: 9.8 × 15.8 cm (3 7/8 × 6 1/4 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
Five drawings (1961.378-1961.382) were once bound in a small sketchbook of approximately 200 pages. Because it was light and portable, Jan van Goyen could tuck it into his pocket while walking in search of inspiration. Sketchbooks allowed the artist to quickly delineate sand dunes and architectural structures in the vicinity of his residence in The Hague and farther afield. These landscape sketches in black chalk and ink wash relate—directly and indirectly—to compositions the artist later realized in oil paintings.
Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.