For ambitious paintings such as The Sermon on the Mount, painted in 1656 for the Bishop of Montpellier (now in the Frick Collection, New York), Claude produced several compositional studies; this is the third of four drawings of the scene. Claude sets the narrative in a vast landscape that strives for topographical accuracy, although he never visited the Holy Land. The distant Mount Lebanon and the Sea of Galilee are at right, and the Dead Sea and the river Jordan are at left. At center is Mount Tabor, where Christ, as described in the Gospel of Matthew, is shown preaching to the multitude. -- Exhibition Label, From "Poussin, Claude, and French Drawing in the Classical Age"
Reynolds, Joshua, Sir, 1723-1792, former owner.
Wellesley, Henry, 1791-1866, former owner.
Drake, William Richard, Sir, 1817-1890, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 272, repr.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 21.
The Master's Hand : Drawings and Manuscripts from the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1998, no. 7, repr. in color.
Roethlisberger, Marcel, Claude Lorrain. The Drawings, 1968, no. 768.