House with Belfry in Heffebach
by MIROU, Anton, Pen, brown ink, 140 x 176 mm
Mirou executed several pen and ink drawings inspired by Schwalbach and its environment. The dates recorded on these sheets depicting peasants’ houses, village streets, and the fringes of forests suggest that Mirou visited the place several times between 1609 and 1618. He might have gone there partly for health reasons as well, since Schwalbach had been a popular resort well known for its medical spring. The drawings were presumably commissioned by the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry (1561-1623).
In the majority of the Schwalbach drawings Mirou chose a close-up view and a simple spatial construction developed with the use of diagonals or parallels. For example, in the House with Belfry in Heffebach the street winding across the houses is rendered with diagonals.