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| attributed to Matthijs Bril Large Oak Tree ca. 1575-83 drawing British Museum |
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| Matthijs Bril River landscape before 1583 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Matthijs Bril River landscape with broken bridge ca. 1570-83 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
"The artists from the north could take several different routes to Italy. One went through Germany along the Rhine to Basel and then via the Alps to Milan or through Austria via Innsbruck to Northern Italy and Venice. . . . After 1618 Germany became more dangerous because of the Thirty Years War, which may well be the reason why people tended to prefer the route through France until the Treaty of Münster was signed in 1648. Generally speaking, people circumvented the Southern Low Countries and went by sea to Normandy and then on to Paris. . . . The journey to the south ran along the Loire and then to Lyon. Gerard ter Borch took another route through France, traveling via Bordeaux and Nîmes. All sorts of northerners gathered in Lyon and several artists also worked there. . . . From the South of France the journey could continue through the mountains, along the coast, or by sea from Marseilles to Genoa, Livorno or Civitavecchia. People sailed in small vessels that hugged the coast so that they could rapidly take refuge ashore in the event of danger. . . . Most Dutch artists never went to Italy, although it was recommended by authors like Van Mander and Hoogstraten – in 1604 and 1678 respectively. Around 1630 Huygens wrote that Rembrandt and Lievens did not see the point of a visit to Italy; it was a waste of time, and, anyway, when they wanted to see Italian paintings there were plenty in the Netherlands."
– Peter Schatborn, from the catalogue of a 2001 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, published in English as Drawn to Warmth: 17th-century Dutch artists in Italy, translated by Lynne Richards
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| Matthijs Bril Mountainous river landscape with hermit and chapel ca. 1570-83 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Matthijs Bril View of ruins in the Roman Forum before 1583 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Matthijs Bril Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome before 1583 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Paul Bril Jonah thrown to the whale ca. 1585-89 drawing (study for fresco commission, Scala Santa, Rome) British Museum |
Two pairs of matching prints below by Paul Bril represent the artist's etched version and the artist's engraved version of identical scenes. Interesting to note that the respective museums holding the individual prints have cataloged the members of the pairs with completely different titles. In the case of Bril's prints and drawings it is probably safe to assume that the titles we see were not supplied by the creator, but rather represent later concoctions by various culture-workers.
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| Paul Bril View of the coast of Campania ca. 1590 etching British Museum |
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| Paul Bril Riverscape with a shepherd on a hill ca. 1590 engraving Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Paul Bril Landscape with St Francis 1590 etching British Museum |
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| Paul Bril Mountainous landscape with praying hermit ca. 1590 engraving Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Paul Bril Landscape with hunters 1619 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Paul Bril Landscape with Pan and Syrinx ca. 1620 oil on canvas Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco |
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| Paul Bril- Landscape with men playing Mail à la Chicane 1624 oil on canvas Minneapolis Institute of Art |