Landschaft mit Baumgruppe am Wasser, ca. 1650 – 1655

About the Work

The use of pen-and-ink in this drawing is similar to that of the following composition. The ductus is stronger and denser, but in both cases they are inventions composed of Claude’s repertoire of landscape elements. The motif of mountains in the distance, over which spring clouds rise, gives the sheet a characteristically heroic note. After completing the drawing, Claude redid the lower right corner by adding plants and grasses to give the scene a compositional balance. Perhaps at the same time he set some darker accents in the group of trees just to the left of the centre.