Oude ruïne van een vierkante kerktoren 1638

"Oude ruïne van een vierkante kerktoren" (Old Ruin of a Square Church Tower) is a 1638 drawing by the Dutch artist Jan van Goyen, notable for his landscapes. This piece, currently housed at the Rijksmuseum, captures the melancholic beauty of a dilapidated church tower, its crumbling walls and broken windows speaking to the passage of time. The delicate hatching in van Goyen's drawing, combined with the expansive, flat expanse of the sky, evokes a sense of quiet contemplation and the fragility of human endeavor. The artwork captures the Dutch Golden Age fascination with the fleeting nature of life and the presence of the past.