The Trefileria on Peignitz II

The Trefileria on Peignitz II by Albrecht Durer was painted in 1494. It is a Northern Renaissance painting that was done after The Trefileria on Peignitz I. It was done after Durer visited Italy, and the artistic influence after that visit is evident in the painting.

The picture is a landscape where the foreground is a closeup of buildings. The roofs of a couple of buildings and the middle ground and background are a landscape of grassy fields and trees. The landscape is in the typical style of Durer with the use of browns, blues, and greens. The foreground has heavy use of browns which is majorly used in the roofs of the buildings, which are in close range, seeming more prominent than usual. There is a mill wheel against the wall of one of the buildings. In the middle of the buildings, there is a courtyard with a representation of animal figures and a man's figure in the shadows.

The middle ground is a rich green colour depicting lush meadows, giving way to a golden-brown hue of the same meadow. The background is of the field and trees that blend from green and brown to the hills that are painted in blue. The skyline is a light colour dotted with brown. This painting is similar to landscapes that Durer did during this period of artistic time, using blue, green, and brown colours with no sharp contrasts. However, this painting, thought to have been done after he visited Italy, is bolder in its use of lines to create depth. Another technique Durer used to create a life-like quality is his use of detail. The animals in the foreground of the picture, the figures of a child and an adult in the middle ground, and a person's figure on a horse all create a movement to the picture.

This painting is detailed using softer brushstrokes that Durer favoured in his images of landscapes and cityscapes that he did during this artistic period. Durer's work on watercolours marks him as one of the first influential European landscape artists. This piece of art is similar to the painting of its same name in subject matter as they both depict nature and mill buildings. However, the second version shows the more significant influence of Durer's time in Italy with the use of bolder lines for the buildings. Another similarity with his earlier work is the view of the landscape, which is higher than the eye view, giving a panoramic view of the entire area. The Trefileria on Peignitz II is on display at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, in Berlin city in Germany.