Claude Lorrain--the painter as draftsman: drawings from the British Museum

Abstract

The great French artist Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), for whom drawing was an integral part of the artistic process, spent most of his career in Italy, where he documented the beauty of the landscape and the splendour of classical ruins. This richly illustrated book examines the wide-ranging role the medium played throughout Claude's career. The book presents some of Claude's most remarkable drawings, representing 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 colour. 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. A selection of works from the Liber Veritatis (Book of Truth), a portfolio of highly finished drawings that the artist created to document his own painted compositions, is also included.