CLAUDE GELLÉE called LE LORR AIN
47 The Cowherd.
1600 Chamagne (Lorraine) – Rome 1682
1636
Etching and drypoint. 13,0 x 20,0 cm Robert-Dumesnil 8/IV; Blum 18/IV; Russell 27/III-IV; Mannocci 18/IVA (vof VI) Provenance: H. Baron de Triqueti, Paris (Lugt 1304)
This may be Claude‘s most beautiful print (D. Russell). Excellent impression of utmost clarity and transparency. Before the scratch crossing the defoliated branch at top right. With tiny margins around the platemark. Completely untouched in preservation. The peaceful bucolic motif is set in a placid composition built by diagonals where Claude has placed some of his favorite motifs: the rampant foliage, the ancient ruins, the reflective water surface, unaffected motions of animals, the figure against the light, the sun in the fields. The summery light floods through all parts of the composition and connects them; it creates an atmospheric effect which has been described by most scientists as the early evening of a hot summer day. This effect is the result of a highly differentiated etching process using very short strokes interweaved in varied density, in some cases one superimposing on the other in distinctly etched layers. (M. Sonnabend)
100