FEBRUARY 4–APRIL 29, 2007
The Artist in the Landscape
Many of Claude's drawings and some of his paintings show artists sketching in the landscape. In the seventeenth century this was still a rare practice, and Claude's consistent interest in recording the world around him directly through observational studies was ambitious and innovative at the time. He is also said to have painted oil sketches out of doors, but no convincing example has yet been discovered. Claude's studies of artists at work in the open air might be thought of almost as a series of self-portraits, in which we watch the artist work in the landscape.
An Artist Sketching with a Second Figure Looking On, 1635–40, Black chalk with dark brown wash on white paper, 214 x 321 mm, The British Museum, London
By Richard Rand
The book presents some of Claude's most remarkable drawings—including all aspects of his style and subject matter, from informal outdoor sketches of trees, rivers, and ruins to formal presentation drawings and elaborate compositional designs for paintings—many of which have never before been reproduced in color. A detailed and scholarly essay places them within the social and cultural contexts of their time and includes comparative illustrations of paintings and etchings to situate them within the artist's oeuvre.
228 pages, 9 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches
137 color illustrations
Published by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in association with Yale University Press