A herdsman and two cows

Details

Claude Gellée, called Claude Lorrain (Chamagne 1600-1682 Rome)
A herdsman and two cows
pen and brown ink, brown wash
5 x 3 5/8 in. (126 x 92 mm.)

Provenance

Earl Spencer (L. 1530), his mount and inventory number 'G/No43'; T. Philipe, 10 June 1811 (to Esdaile).
W. Esdaile (L. 2617, partly erased) his inscription 'SW374 Lord Spencer's Coll 1811 P33' on the mount.
S. Woodburn.
Jackson, according to Oppé's notes.
Anonymous sale; Puttick and Simpson, 19 December 1924 (£5).

Literature

M. Roethlisberger, Claude Lorrain, The Drawings, Los Angeles and Cambridge, 1968, no. 25.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, Landscape in French Art, 1950, no. 517.
London, Royal Academy, The Paul Oppé Collection, 1958, no. 335.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Professor Roethlisberger suggests that this drawing was once part of an early sketchbook used by Claude in Rome in about 1630. Approximately forty other drawings of the same dimensions and subject matter, and stylistically also dating from the artist's early years of activity, are known. Seventeen are now in the British Museum and twelve are at Windsor, further reinforcing the relationship.

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