Claude Lorrain’s etching, “The Two Landscapes”, c1630

Claude Lorrain (aka Claude Gellée; Le Lorrain; Claudio di Lorena) (1600 - 1682)

“The Two Landscapes” [Les Deux Paysages], c1630, printed from the original plate, trimmed as two separate prints and published in 1816 by J. McCreery in the “200 Etchings” folio.

Etching on tissue thin laid paper, trimmed as separate images (as published) and re-margined on a support sheet.

Size: (re-margined support sheet) 25.2 x 27.3 cm; (left sheet trimmed unevenly) 6.5 x 4.7 cm; (right sheet trimmed unevenly) 6.3 x 5.6 cm

Signed on plate below the image borderline at the right corner of the right print, but too fragmented to be meaningful. In earlier states the inscription showed “CL. Inv.” (see the BM no. 1973,U.641)

State iii (of iii)

Robert-Dumesnil 40; Blum 42; Knab 114; Duplessis 42; Russell 6; Mannocci 4

The curator of the British Museum advises: “These sketches were etched on the back of a plate.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1346419&partId=1&searchText=claude+lorrain+etching&page=2) 

Condition: good impressions but with some restorations for losses at the corners. The two landscape are fragments of a larger single print (see BM no. 1973,U.641) and have been re-margined with a support sheet.

I am selling these very early notational compositions by one of the most famous of all landscape artists for  [deleted]. Postage for this pair of prints is extra and will be the actual/true cost.

If you are interested in purchasing these original tiny landscapes by Lorrain, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy. 

This pair of prints has been sold

What I find interesting when looking at Claude Lorrain’s etchings is how consistent he is in his approach to portraying his subjects. Here, for example, Lorrain has rendered the trees, ground and even the tiny figures in the right panel with the same loosely laid lines. These freely inscribed lines are clearly not intended to replicate differences of surface textures or essential forms, but this does not mean that his linework is perfunctory or lacks the fundamental attribute found in the work of the best artists: a line that searches for meaning in the subject. Rather, what I see in his use of line is an artist whose vision is driven by the psychological need to “find” himself in the landscape (i.e. to search for psychological triggers that sustain and reflect his personal interests). In short, Lorrain is not simply rendering the landscape in front of him, but pushing and pulling the landscape features until they match his aesthetic leanings.