FEBRUARY 4–APRIL 29, 2007
Heroic Landscapes
Despite increasingly poor health in his later years, Claude continued to draw and paint until his death in 1682. His late works exhibit a new grandeur of conception and a growing interest in literary themes. Encouraged by his patrons, Claude took on more complicated subjects, often drawn from heroic epics like Virgil's Aeneid. In both drawings and paintings, the landscape settings enhanced the dramatic power of the narratives. His highly finished late drawings have the monumentality and visual clarity of his painted compositions while retaining the naturalism that had always been a characteristic of Claude's work.
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