Once again, the expressive force and scenographic effects take prevalence in this composition. Consequently, these give this composition a strong dramatic character similar to that of the works of the Flemish masters of the early 17th century, with which Collantes was undoubtedly very familiar. On the surface of the canvas, the reliefs are arranged with clarity and certain symmetry. On the right and left, the painter creates two masses of dense greenery against the backlight, which cover two thirds of the painting. Moreover, these are outlined against a clear sky filled with white clouds. The rays of light penetrating through the dense branches illuminate the rocks in the foreground. The compositional axis is filled with a clearing in the forest in which we find mountains and vegetation at different heights. Meanwhile, the low horizon gives way to the light coming from the sky. The richness of the composition, with its multiple levels highlighted by the effects of light, the rigorous study of perspective and the accumulation of elements, endow the scene depicted with variety and decorativeness. The gradient from the different shades of ochre, green and blue, in that order, is also frequently repeated by the masters of the Flemish school. Especially, it used to be repeated in the time before the aesthetic revolution of Rubens, who converted landscapes into dynamic compositions. He carried out this change without the need to use these tonal gradients. The painting comes from the Spanish royal collections. Although the current measurements are slightly smaller, Angulo and Pérez Sánchez, in their text on painting in Madrid from the second third of the 17th century, published in 1983, compare this canvas with ‘landscape with a wooden bridge of a yard per one yard and a span.’ The latter appears in the inventories of the Buen Retiro Palace. In the Museo del Prado’s old inventories, the same measurements as today are recorded. Nevertheless, it is not surprising that, before it entered the Museum, its size may have been reduced as a result of some restorations.

Esplendores de Espanha de el Greco a Velázquez, Río de Janeiro, Arte Viva, 2000, p.217