The Cowherd
1636
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 12.6 × 19.5 cm (5 × 7 11/16 in.); Sheet, cut within platemark: 13.1 × 20.1 cm (5 3/16 × 7 15/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
28401
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this Claude's most beloved print, the scene suceedes in conveying the atmosphere of an afternoon by a river, with all the poetry and harmony of pastoral life.
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...