Claude Gellée, called Claude Lorrain

Painted in 1654 for 'Monsieur Mierelle' according to the inscription on the corresponding drawing in Claude's Liber Veritatis;
Lord George Augustus Cavendish (d. 1794), Holker Hall, Cark-in-Cartmel, Lancashire by 1777;
His nephew Lord George Augustus Henry Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington;
His grandson William, 2nd Earl of Burlington and later 7th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1858);
His grandson, Victor Cavendish, who on succeeding as 9th Duke in 1908 made over Holker to his brother
Lord Richard Cavendish, by whom sold, London, Christie's, December 12, 1930, lot 38, for £199 to Huggins;
Acquired by an English private collector, from Huggins, until 1958;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Gentleman"), London, Sotheby's, July 13, 1977, lot 9;
With L. Koetser, Zurich;
Deder collection, Switzerland;
With P. & D. Colnaghi Ltd., London, their stock number 15, until 1979;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Private Collector"), London, Sotheby's, July 8, 1999, lot 86, where acquired by the present owner.

Washington D.C., The National Gallery of Art; Paris, Grand Palais, Claude Lorrain: A Tercentenary Exhibition, October 17, 1982 - May 16, 1983, cat. no. 42. 

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, vol. VIII, London 1837, pp. 262-263, cat. no. 131;
G.F. Waagen, Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, London 1857, p. 422;
M. Stephens, "The private Collections of England: XXXI Holker Hall", in The Athenaeum, no. 2601, September 1, 1877, p. 281;
M. Pattison (Lady Dilke), Claude Lorrain, Paris 1884, pp. 77, 230, cat. no. 3;
G. Isarlo, in Arts, April 22, 1949, p. 8;
M. Röthlisberger, in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, April 1960, p. 217, reproduced p. 211;
M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain: The Paintings, London 1961, pp. 317-318, cat. no. 131, reproduced vol. II, fig. 226;
M. Röthlisberger, Claude Lorrain: The Drawings, London 1968, vol. I, p. 279, under cat. no. 732;
M. Röthlisberger & D. Cecchi, L'opera completa di Claude Lorrain, Milan 1975, p. 112, cat. no. 199, reproduced on p. 113 and in color plate XL;
M. Kitson, Claude Lorrain: Liber Veritatis, London (British Museum) 1978, pp. 132-133, under cat. no. 131;
H.D. Russell, in Claude Lorrain. 1600-1682, exhibition catalogue, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1983, p. 170, cat. no. 42.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This lovely painting has been recently restored and if the frame were to be addressed slightly, the picture could be hung as is. The canvas has an old glue lining which nicely stabilizes the surface. The paint layer has been cleaned, varnished and retouched. The retouches are clearly visible under ultraviolet light addressing a few cracks in the sky. In the left foreground a few cracks and spots have been retouched, particularly in the reflections in the water in the lower center. In the large groups of trees in the center some restoration has been applied to diminish some cracking and deterioration of the glaze. On the right side a vertical scratch on the lower right edge has been retouched and some areas of retouching are visible in the tree in the upper right. This amount of retouch is to be expected from a work by this artist from this period. We would not recommend any further restoration and the picture should be hung as is.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The subject is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses II, 676-708. Mercury, having been seen by the old man Battus stealing the herds of Admetus, offers the latter a heifer in return for his silence. Battus duly promised that a nearby stone would tell the story before he did. However, Mercury later returned in disguise and offered Battus a cow and a bull if he would reveal the whereabouts of the cattle. Battus succumbed to the offer and revealed the location of the herd, whereupon he was turned into a flinty stone by Mercury. The 'glades and grassy meadows' of the fields of Pylos described by Ovid are here depicted bathed in the late afternoon light so favoured by Claude, and in the rendition of which he remains unsurpassed. The tranquil elegiac atmosphere is, as H. Diane Russell observes in the catalogue of the Washington exhibition, enhanced 'by Mercury's gesture in hushing Battus, as if any sound would intrude upon this locus amoenus'.

This painting was probably originally painted as a pendant to the lost Apollo guarding the herds of Admetus and Mercury stealing them (Liber Veritatis no. 128), which was painted in the same year and was also formerly at Holker but destroyed by fire in 1870. The corresponding drawing to the present painting in the Liber Veritatis (see fig. 1) is similarly inscribed: Claudio f.V. Roma 1654. I.V.F. fait pour M^r . Mielin. The two were considered a pair when in Lord Cavendish's collection, although the dimensions of the latter (75 by 110.5 cm.) were apparently slightly different. The subject matter of the paintings was certainly suitable for pairing, as they depict successive episodes in the Metamorphoses. This painting is, in fact, Claude's first treatment of the subject of Mercury and Battus. He was to return to the theme on a larger scale in the painting of 1663 commissioned by Henri van Halmale and now at Chatsworth¹, again painted as a pendant to Mercury stealing the herds of Admetus². Two related drawings are also now in the Musée du Louvre³.

The identity of this landscape's first owner, the 'M^r. mierelle' or 'M^r. Mielin' identified by inscriptions on both Liber Veritatis drawings, remains tantalisingly elusive. The following, none of whom is otherwise known as a collector of paintings, have been suggested: the famous collector of engravings Michel de Marolles (1600-1681), the French engraver Claude Mellan (1598-1688, but only in Rome between 1624 and 1636), the sculpture collector Nicolas Mellet of Verdun, or a relative of the French painter Charles Mellin (who died in Rome in 1649). The commission, either of this one painting, or more likely of the pair, seems to have been unique.

Thereafter, this painting was one of no less than four Claudes to have entered the collections at Holker Hall in Lancashire. Lord George Cavendish's uncle, Sir William Lowther, 3rd Bt., had already acquired just before his death in 1756 two of Claude's largest works, the Parnassus of 1652 now in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, and the Flight into Egypt of 1645 now at Cleveland⁴. To these Lord George must have added the present work and its now destroyed companion, but where and when he acquired them is not known.

 

 

1  Exhibited, London, National Gallery, Claude: the poetic landscape, 1994, no. 77.
2  London, Wallace Collection, reproduced Röthlisberger, Literature, 1961, vol. I, pp. 356-7, no. LV 152, vol. II, fig. 250.
3  idem., p. 378, nos. 1 and 2.
4  See, for example, F. Russell, 'Thomas Patch, Sir William Lowther and the Holker Claude', in Apollo, CII, August 1975, pp. 115-119, figs. 5 and 6.