- Museum number
- 1957,1214.83
- Description
-
Landscape with Narcissus and Echo, based on Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' (III, 353-507), record of the painting in the National Gallery, London (NG19) , from the Liber Veritatis; in foreground at left a sleeping water-nymph, beyond pool with Narcissus gazing at his reflection in it, above on a rocky outcrop at left Echo and another figure leaning forward among bushes
Pen and brown ink and brown wash, with grey-brown wash
- Production date
- 1644 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 195 millimetres
-
Width: 262 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See 1957,1214.6 for information on the Liber Veritatis.
The painting that this drawing records was made for an unknown English patron and is now in the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG 19; Roethlisberger 1961, fig. 150). It may have formed a pendant with the contemporary Pastoral Landscape that is of the same dimensions (see inv. no. 1957,1214.84). The scene was popular in the 1600s, yet this is the only occasion on which Claude depicted it . Claude used the scene as an opportunity to explore the potential of merging his extensive studies of landscape and his engagement with antique Roman sculpture. As Christian Klemm notes (email communication, 20 January 2021), the figure of Narcissus is developed from the sculpture of the 'Dying Gaul' now in the Musei Capitolini, Rome), while the reclining female at the lower left has all the appearance of a classical muse. The present drawing was made after the completed painting, which is in turn preceded by a preparatory drawing also in the BM which differs substantially from the final composition (for which see Oo,6.68).
Lit: M. Roethlisberger, Claude Lorrain, The Paintings, London 1961, LV77, pp. 222–223; M. Roethlisberger, ‘Claude Lorrain. The Drawings’, Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1968, no. 549; M. Kitson, ‘Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis’, London 1978, no. 77.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1977 BM, Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Metamorphoses
- 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
- 1957,1214.83