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Lot Essay
This picture, which is sold with a letter of authentication by Professor Marcel Röthlisberger, is one of Claude's earliest known works and was later engraved in reverse by Jean Morin, and inscribed 'Cl. le Lorrain pinxit' (see fig. 1). It provides a fascinating insight into his early influences and development as a landscape painter.
Born in Chamagne, near Nancy, Claude moved to Rome possibly as early as 1617, when he was only 12 or 13 years old, although his first biographers are very vague over these details. Soon after his arrival in Rome he spent around two years in Naples where, according to Baldinucci, he is known to have studied under Goffredo Wals, 'a painter of landscapes, distant views and architecture', according to Baldinucci, before returning to Rome to finish his artistic training, this time in the workshop of the landscape painter Agostino Tassi. After this initial period of study Claude returned to his native duchy of Lorraine in 1625, where he became the assistant of Claude Deruet, the court painter to the Duke. The two collaborated on the ceiling frescoes for the Carmelite church in Nancy, however, the call of Rome proved too strong, and Claude was back in the city by the spring of 1627. Except for the occasional brief trip to other parts of Italy, he was to remain in Rome, at his studio in the via Margutta, for the rest of his long life.
In addition to Wals and Tassi, with whom he studied, the young Claude was also influenced by the work of Filippo Napoletano, Bartholomeus Breenbergh and, at a greater remove, the art of Adam Elsheimer. It was, however, the figure of Paul Bril that provided him with his most immediate model. Bril had been the most successful landscape painter in Rome for last 40 years, up until his death in 1626, and Claude seems to have looked to this artist as his main inspiration when he was establishing himself as the city's pre-eminent exponent of landscape painting.
It has proved very difficult to establish even a rough chronology for Claude's work before about 1635 for too few pictures survive and hardly any can be dated with any degree of accuracy. The earliest dated picture by Claude is the Pastoral landscape of 1629 (Philadelphia Museum of Art; see M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain. The Paintings, New York, 1979, I, no. 266, p. 528, II, fig. 344), although other works, such as the present picture may well have been executed even earlier, probably around 1627, soon after his return to Rome. This small landscape betrays the artist's early influences, particularly that of Bril and Breenbergh, yet, even in this early period, Claude can be seen experimenting with a daring compositional arrangement, with the strong diagonal of the ancient arches, through which can be seen the distant landscape with trees and a church. The lone shepherd and his flock complete the arcadian scene. The figure of the shepherd does not appear in the print, possibly because it would have been too difficult to see against the shaded column.
Another version of this work exists, of similar date, in a private collection, which Professor Röthlisberger also regards as autograph (see M. Röthlisberger, 'Additional Works by Goffredo Wals and Claude Lorrain', The Burlington Magazine, CXXI, no. 910, 1979, pp. 23-4, fig. 31). There are slight differences between the two versions: in the latter work the shepherd is missing, while in the present picture Claude has extended the composition slightly further on the right hand side. With the exception of the presence of the shepherd, it is the present work that most closely corresponds to Morin's print.
Born in Chamagne, near Nancy, Claude moved to Rome possibly as early as 1617, when he was only 12 or 13 years old, although his first biographers are very vague over these details. Soon after his arrival in Rome he spent around two years in Naples where, according to Baldinucci, he is known to have studied under Goffredo Wals, 'a painter of landscapes, distant views and architecture', according to Baldinucci, before returning to Rome to finish his artistic training, this time in the workshop of the landscape painter Agostino Tassi. After this initial period of study Claude returned to his native duchy of Lorraine in 1625, where he became the assistant of Claude Deruet, the court painter to the Duke. The two collaborated on the ceiling frescoes for the Carmelite church in Nancy, however, the call of Rome proved too strong, and Claude was back in the city by the spring of 1627. Except for the occasional brief trip to other parts of Italy, he was to remain in Rome, at his studio in the via Margutta, for the rest of his long life.
In addition to Wals and Tassi, with whom he studied, the young Claude was also influenced by the work of Filippo Napoletano, Bartholomeus Breenbergh and, at a greater remove, the art of Adam Elsheimer. It was, however, the figure of Paul Bril that provided him with his most immediate model. Bril had been the most successful landscape painter in Rome for last 40 years, up until his death in 1626, and Claude seems to have looked to this artist as his main inspiration when he was establishing himself as the city's pre-eminent exponent of landscape painting.
It has proved very difficult to establish even a rough chronology for Claude's work before about 1635 for too few pictures survive and hardly any can be dated with any degree of accuracy. The earliest dated picture by Claude is the Pastoral landscape of 1629 (Philadelphia Museum of Art; see M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain. The Paintings, New York, 1979, I, no. 266, p. 528, II, fig. 344), although other works, such as the present picture may well have been executed even earlier, probably around 1627, soon after his return to Rome. This small landscape betrays the artist's early influences, particularly that of Bril and Breenbergh, yet, even in this early period, Claude can be seen experimenting with a daring compositional arrangement, with the strong diagonal of the ancient arches, through which can be seen the distant landscape with trees and a church. The lone shepherd and his flock complete the arcadian scene. The figure of the shepherd does not appear in the print, possibly because it would have been too difficult to see against the shaded column.
Another version of this work exists, of similar date, in a private collection, which Professor Röthlisberger also regards as autograph (see M. Röthlisberger, 'Additional Works by Goffredo Wals and Claude Lorrain', The Burlington Magazine, CXXI, no. 910, 1979, pp. 23-4, fig. 31). There are slight differences between the two versions: in the latter work the shepherd is missing, while in the present picture Claude has extended the composition slightly further on the right hand side. With the exception of the presence of the shepherd, it is the present work that most closely corresponds to Morin's print.