- Museum number
- 1957,1214.130
- Description
-
Pastoral landscape, record of a painting in the Grosvenor Estate (the Collection of the Dukes of Westminster), from the Liber Veritatis; two figures in the left foreground, goats and cattle grazing on the bank of a river which flows into the right foreground, a tree on the further bank, temples and a bridge in the mid-distance
Pen and brown ink, with grey and brown wash, heightened with white
- Production date
- 1651
- Dimensions
-
Height: 196 millimetres
-
Width: 258 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See 1957,1214.6 for information on the Liber Veritatis.
Though this pastoral landscape is consistent with those that Claude had produced from the late 1630s, this composition of 1651 is notable for its increasing grandeur and classical quality. This is principally achieved through the inclusion of classical monuments such as the temple in the distance that is possibly based on the Temple of Fortuna Virilis in the Forum Boarium. It was also achieved through the strong contrast Claude created between the foreground with the figures and livestock in a dark tone and the remote city in a lighter wash. The central tree lends futher monumentality to the composition. The present drawing records a painting that was produced in 1651 for Mr Werdmüller who was also the patron to LV155 (see 1957,1214.161). The painting was last recorded in the collection of the Duke of Westminster/ the Grosvenor Estate (canvas, 98 x 145 cm; see Roethlisberger 1986, no. 183).
Lit: M. Roethlisberger, Claude Lorrain, The Paintings, London 1961, LV124, pp. 305–6; M. Roethlisberger, ‘Claude Lorrain. The Drawings’, Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1968, no. 695; M. Kitson, ‘Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis’, London 1978, no. 124; M. Roethlisberger, ‘Tout l'œuvre peint de Claude Lorrain’, Paris, 1986, no 183; J. Rauser in exhib. cat. (ed. by A. Stolzenburg & D. Klemm), Hamburg, Kunsthalle, ‘Das Licht der Campagna. Die Zeichnungen Claude Lorrains im British Museum’, 2017–18, no. 68, pp.200-201
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1977 BM, Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis
2017 - 2018 13 Oct-14 Jan, Hamburg: Das Licht der Campagna. Die Zeichnungen Claude Lorrains im British Museum, London
- Acquisition date
- 1957
- Acquisition notes
- Accepted by H M Government in lieu of tax on the estate of the 9th Duke of Devonshire.
See M. Kitson's 'Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis', pp. 28-9, for a full account of the provenance of the sketch-book.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1957,1214.130