CLAUDE GELLÉE, CALLED CLAUDE LORRAIN | GOATS GRAZING IN A LANDSCAPE

Benjamin West (1738-1829), London (L.419);

The Rev. Dr. Henry Wellesley (1791-1866), Oxford (L.1384),

his sale, London, Sotheby's, 25 June, 1866;

William Mayor (d.1874), London (L.2799);

Grosjean-Maupin, by 1922/27;

Boussac Collection;

sale, Paris, Drouot, 4 March 1931, lot 38, reproduced;

Albin Schram, Lausanne,

by inheritance to the present owners

C. Martine, Dessins de Maîtres français. Claude Géllée dit Lorrain. Recueil de cinquante-deux reproductions par L. Marotte..., ed. Ch. Martine, Paris 1922, no. 49;

International Studio, 1927, I, 40, reproduced;

M. Roethlisberger, Claude Lorrain, The Drawings, 2 vols., Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968, vol. I, p. 143, no. 259, reproduced, vol. II, pl. 259

This is a quintessential Claudian landscape, which Marcel Rothlisberger dates to 1635-1645. Goats appear frequently in Claude’s early paintings and the artist produced a number of studies of goats in isolation and within landscapes, many of which originate from his so-called ‘Animal Album.’

Claude’s drawings, whether they are rapid sketches or more elaborate compositional studies for his painted landscapes, all embody a love of nature and a keen awareness of the serenity found in the idyllic pastoral scene.

Albin Schram (1926-2005) was a voracious but discerning collector of works on paper and autograph documents. The story goes that his fascination with these records of human interactions and artistic creation was sparked when his mother presented him with a romantic letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte to his future wife Josephine de Beauharnais in an attempt to patch up an argument. The superb collection of late 19th and early 20th century works on paper from the Schram collection, including drawings by artists such as Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, August Macke, Emil Nolde and Alfred Kubin, was sold at Sotheby's last month, under the title: The Artist's Sketchbook: Where Inspiration finds Form.