Study for a Scene with Brigands
c. 1633
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 19.9 × 13 cm (7 7/8 × 5 1/8 in.); Sheet: 20.2 × 13.4 cm (8 × 5 5/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
72727
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Claude Lorrain, esteemed painter of the ideal landscape, also produced about 40 etchings. Many were made in his early years, perhaps as a way of creating a broader market for his paintings. Compared with other artists of his time, Lorrain used the etching plate in more experimental ways. Here, he produced several test plates in the process of developing his compositions. The lower image shows a preliminary sketch in reverse for the etching of Scene with Brigands, as well as several spirited rabb...
About the Artist
Claude Lorrain · 1604–1682
Claude Lorrain (c. 1600-1682), born Claude Gellée in the village of Chamagne in northeastern France's Duchy of Lorraine, stands as one of the most influential landscape painters in Western art history. Orphaned by age twelve, his journey to artistic mastery was unconventional—beginning with apprenticeships in pastry-making and inlay work before destiny led him to Rome around 1620, where he would s...