Claude Lorrain
1600-1682
Landscape, with Shepherd and Flock at the Edge of a Wood
1645
8 7/16 x 13 inches (217 x 330 mm)
Pen and brush and brown ink, over graphite, on paper; ruled border in black ink visible on left and top margin.
III, 82
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
Watermark: none.
Claude's landscapes increasingly reflected his engagement with ancient pastoral poetry, such as Virgil's Ecologues, then in vogue among Roman intellectuals, aristocrats, and high clergy. Resting in the shade, a shepherd sits in contemplation while his herd grazes. The trees are unruffled by the wind, and the sky is immaculate, rendering the countryside as a poetically ideal place where men live in harmony with nature. Large, finished, and bearing a signature and date, this sheet was likely intended by Claude as an autonomous work of art. -- Exhibition Label, From "Poussin, Claude, and French Drawing in the Classical Age"
Claude's landscapes increasingly reflected his engagement with ancient pastoral poetry, such as Virgil's Ecologues, then in vogue among Roman intellectuals, aristocrats, and high clergy. Resting in the shade, a shepherd sits in contemplation while his herd grazes. The trees are unruffled by the wind, and the sky is immaculate, rendering the countryside as a poetically ideal place where men live in harmony with nature. Large, finished, and bearing a signature and date, this sheet was likely intended by Claude as an autonomous work of art. -- Exhibition Label, From "Poussin, Claude, and French Drawing in the Classical Age"
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed and dated on verso, in pen and brown ink, at bottom center, "Claudio Gellě/fecit et inventor/Roma 1645"; numbered in pen and brown ink, in opposite direction at upper right margin, "13"; also in black chalk, "2222".
Associated names
Wellesley, Henry, 1791-1866, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, III, 82, repr.
Roethlisberger, Marcel. Claude Lorrain. The Drawings, 1968, no. 592.
Denison, Cara D., and Helen B. Mules, with the assistance of Jane V. Shoaf. European Drawings, 1375-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, no. 52, repr.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 19, repr.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, no. 21, repr.
In August Company : The Collections of the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, p. 291-92, no. 18, repr in color.
The Morgan Library : An American Masterpiece. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 2000, p. 60, repr. in color.
Roethlisberger, Marcel. Claude Lorrain. The Drawings, 1968, no. 592.
Denison, Cara D., and Helen B. Mules, with the assistance of Jane V. Shoaf. European Drawings, 1375-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, no. 52, repr.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 19, repr.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, no. 21, repr.
In August Company : The Collections of the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, p. 291-92, no. 18, repr in color.
The Morgan Library : An American Masterpiece. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 2000, p. 60, repr. in color.
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