Selected Drawings of Claude Lorraine

Of the three great French painters working in Rome in the seventeenth century—Poussin, Claude Lorraine, and Gaspard Dughet—Claude was the only one whose graphic oeuvre forms a distinct genre separate from his paintings. Along with Rembrandt and Rubens, Claude Gellee (called “Lorraine” from his place of birth) may be considered one of the great draftsmen of his century, besides being noted for having opened the way to the landscape painting as we know it today.

His work eminently deserves the type of study presented here, in a selection of seventy-four of his finest drawings which are reproduced in facsimile, thus accurately conveying the aesthetic impact of the originals. Professor Chiarini’s lucid introduction provides a useful summary of Claude’s artistic situation and of the development of his graphic style, fitting the latter into the development of his painting technique. Full catalogue information is given in the descriptive notes to each drawing. This impressive volume of text and unusually faithful color reproductions thus represents a valuable addition to the art historian’s library an also enhances he connoisseur’s pleasure in the superb quality of Claude’s drawings.