The Grotto of Neptune in Tivoli
The bold, free handling, plus the small figure set in the inhospitable landscape, lend this drawing a dimension that is unusual in Claude’s oeuvre. Through broad strokes of wash that fill the page, the artist has depicted the Cave of the Sirens near the Aniene River that springs from beneath the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli. Meanwhile, Claude’s depiction of the figure “from the back” leaves room for the imagination, just as the absence of personal features invites the beholder to identify with the sitter.
Claude Gellée, known as Claude Lorrain (1600 or 1604/05 – 1682)
circa 1640
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash / Verso: graphite, pen and brown ink, brown wash – H. 17 cm; W. 23.7 cm – Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. L 22 – Acquired by the Teyler Foundation in 1790
circa 1640
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash / Verso: graphite, pen and brown ink, brown wash – H. 17 cm; W. 23.7 cm – Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. L 22 – Acquired by the Teyler Foundation in 1790
© Haarlem, Teylers Museum