Claude often made sketching excursions in the countryside around Rome, one of which inspired the present sheet. He likely sketched the landscape in black chalk en plein air before returning to the studio to add the pen work and washes. The intentional smudging of the chalk in the trees imparts an especially lively sense of the foliage, lending it atmosphere and motion. The building in the background remains unidentified but it was probably a real structure--a view of it from a different angle appears on the reverse of this drawing. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis in circle surmounted by crown, centered on chain lines. Note curved wires in laid lines around watermark.
Christina, Queen of Sweden, 1626-1689 former owner.
Azzolini, Decio, Cardinal, former owner.
Azzolini, Pompeo, former owner.
Odescalchi, Livio, Don, Duke of Bracciano, 1652-1713, former owner.
Odescalchi family, former owner.
Wildenstein, Georges, former owner.
Simon, Norton, 1907-1993, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 241, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. Part II. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1985, no. 6. (also in Thaw III, no. 22)
Denison, Cara D. et al. The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and New Acquisitions. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994, no. 22.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 74, repr. [Kurt Zeitler]