Study of Trees
Both the technique and style of this drawing establish a link between Claude and the northern Dutch painter Bartholomeus Breenbergh, whose influence is apparent in the choice of the pen and wash technique, in the use of striking contrasts, and in simpler elements such as the foliage. Although this drawing is an example of the way Claude drew inspiration from a Dutch colleague, it served itself as a source of inspiration: around 1825 the famous English landscape painter John Constable did a meticulous copy of it.
Claude Gellée, known as Claude Lorrain (1600 or 1604/05 – 1682)
circa 1635
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash – H. 28.9 cm; W. 20.5 cm – Edmond de Rothschild Collection, Department of Prints and Drawings, Louvre, Paris, 1532 DR – Purchased by Danlos for Baron Edmond de Rothschild; bequeathed to the Louvre in 1935
circa 1635
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash – H. 28.9 cm; W. 20.5 cm – Edmond de Rothschild Collection, Department of Prints and Drawings, Louvre, Paris, 1532 DR – Purchased by Danlos for Baron Edmond de Rothschild; bequeathed to the Louvre in 1935
© RMN / René-Gabriel Ojéda