drawing
- Museum number
- Oo,7.152
- Description
-
Interior of St Peter's; view inside the cathedral looking towards the northern chapel of the choir, two figures and a holy water font in the foreground. c.1640-5
Black chalk
- Production date
- 1640-1645 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 219 millimetres
-
Width: 160 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This is the only suriving interior view of Claude. There is no doubt, however, that the drawing is by his hand. This is on account firstly of Claude’s other depiction of St. Peter from the exterior (Oo,7.150, Roethlisberger 1968, no. 452, pp. 194-195). Moreover, the handling of media is consistent with that dating to the period of the so-called Tivoli Book (for more information about the Tivoli Book, see Oo,6.80, Roethlisberger 1968, no.429).
Evidence that Claude made other studies of the interior of St. Peters is found in the Wellesley sale of 1866, which contained the lot numbered 1,774 entitled: "a chapel in St. Peter's, with the Pope's throne, in pen", but now it is unknown, and another "View of St. Peter's" (lot 1,014) drawn in pen and sepia wash and also now unknown.
Lit.: A.M. Hind, 'Catalogue of the Drawings of Claude Lorrain preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings', London, 1926, no. 103, p. 10; M. Roethlisberger, 'Claude Lorrain: The drawings catalog', 2 vols, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968, no. 451, p.194
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1824
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Oo,7.152
