Tree and Rocks by the Water

Claude ignored the artistic conventions of his day in this lively drawing. Several fairly wild sketches of this type have survived from the 1630s, and while today we can admire their youthful brio, Claude’s contemporaries did not see them in the same light. Joachim von Sandrart, Claude’s friend and fellow artist, noted how much he liked to draw outdoors “even though he wasn’t particularly gifted for nature.”