Landscape with a fortified town

Pieter Bruegel the Elder completed this panoramic landscape drawing showing a fortified town rising from rolling terrain. The composition demonstrates his mastery of aerial perspective, with detailed foreground giving way to misty distance. Small figures populate the roads, adding human scale to the vast scene.

Bruegel was the greatest Netherlandish Renaissance landscapist, pioneering the panoramic view that influenced generations of artists. His drawings were as prized as his paintings, showing detailed observation of topography and atmosphere. Now at the British Library in London.