OBSERVATIONS.

A VERY brief knowledge of the works of Claude Lorraine must convince the amateur that the superlative beauty and excellence which most of them exhibit, could only have been the result of the most indefatigable study, governed by great taste and genius; for, however admirably they represent nature, it is a question whether any picture by his hand was a faithful transcript of the scene from whence it was taken. His works may therefore be considered combinations of beautiful objects, borrowed from the inexhaustible source of nature, and exhibited under the most lovely forms and alluring medium.* If the scene represents the early morning, when "Aurora with her rosy fingers unbars the gates of day," the hemisphere is suffused with light and heat, and all nature visibly feels their influence; the mists are seen dispersing, and the cooling freshness of the dawn of

*Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his Discourses, observes, that Claude Lorraine " was convinced, that taking nature as he found it seldom produced beauty. His pictures are a composition of the various drafts which he had previously made from various beautiful scenes and prospects."

day is yielding to the absorbing rays of the rising luminary; the soft zephyrs appear to agitate in gentle ripples the surface of the lucid streams, and to breathe in whispers among the foliage of the surrounding groves. Either the shepherd is there seen leading his flocks and herds to pasture, or the goddess Diana, with her attendants, sallying forth to the chase. Every period of the day, with all its elemental vicissitudes, has been successfully embodied by his magic pencil, and even the gorgeous splendour of a summer's evening, with all its dazzling brightness, was not beyond the reach of his masterhand.

Architecture appears to have been, from an early period of his life, a favourite branch of the art; for this, he evidently possessed a refined taste and a ready invention, and he lost few opportunities of showing his predilection for such objects whenever his scenes permitted it. Palaces, temples, and other noble edifices, or the ruined remains of such structures of Greek or Roman origin, are appropriately introduced, whether the picture exhibit sea ports, or inland scenes, and these are composed with so much skill and apparent propriety, that it is easy to imagine they once had an existence at some glorious era of the Greek or Roman states. This illusion is still further heightened by the representation of some event from sacred or profane history, poetry, or romance, which accords (with some few exceptions) with the style of the buildings and the nature of the scenes depicted.

Claude is reported to have taken much pains by frequenting the academy, in order to acquire a correct

knowledge of the drawing of the human figure; but although he succeeded sufficiently well not to offend the eye, even of the critic, he was so sensible of his defect, that he would sometimes jocosely say, that he sold the landscapes and gave his figures into the bargain. His deficiency in this department was sometimes supplied by Filippo Lauri, Courtois, or Jan Miel.

The pictures by Claude bear visible evidence that they are the result of much thought, deliberation, and cultivated taste. In their execution, both patience and elaborate care are equally manifest. His best works are painted throughout with a full body of colour, and a liberal use of ultra-marine. He appears to have commenced his operations entirely in grey, in which that valuable colour is freely used; so that when the super colours in the completion of the work are applied, the silvery hues beneath contribute greatly to the atmospheric effect, which constitutes one of the chief charms in his pictures. It is also worthy of notice, that the same careful attention to the details is as observable in the half-tones, shadows, and distances, as in the more prominent and luminous parts. Above all, the high quality of his genius is best discovered, in the selecting of objects of the most pleasing forms, tastefully grouping them together, so as to produce, by the various combinations, a scene replete with the most enchanting beauties. Such are the productions of this inimitable artist.

THE

WORKS

OF

CLAUDE LORRAINE.

THE following two hundred pictures are specially identified

by drawings in bistre heightened with white, which were done by the artist as memoranda of the subject and composition of each piece. The whole being afterwards collected in a book, it was entitled by him, LIBER VERITATIS. This highlyinteresting collection is now in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chatsworth. They are suitably framed and glazed, and adorn one of the rooms of that noble mansion. The whole of them have been finely engraved by Richard Earlom, in a style that closely resembles the original drawings, and they form, when bound, two volumes, also entitled Liber Veritatis.* A third volume has since been added to the above, composed of one hundred prints by the same engraver, after drawings by Claude, then in the collections of the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, Richard Payne Knight, † Benjamin West, Charles Lambert, Charles

* Published by Messrs. Boydell & Co. in 1774.

+ This distinguished amateur died in 1825, and by his will bequeathed the whole of his valuable collection of drawings to the British Museum. Amongst them were a considerable number by Claude, studies from nature, a great portion of which were accidentally discovered in Spain, and there bought for a few pounds; but for which Mr. Knight paid 16007. These are not yet engraved.

Landscapes.

Turner, George Gosling, and Joseph Farrington, Esqs. This volume, however, although it passes under the same desiguation as the preceding, does not, in fact, belong to the book bearing that title; nor does it possess the valuable and interesting documents contained in that work, for the chief portion of this second series of drawings, are merely studies from nature, or compositions for pictures, whereas the former series was done after pictures either in progress or finished.

THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS CORRESPOND WITH THOSE IN THE LIBER VERITATIS.

1. A View near the Campo Vaccino, looking towards the Palatine Hills. On the right stand three beautiful columns, of the Corinthian order, supposed to be a portion of the temple of Jupiter Stator; beyond which, the eye looks to some ruins occupying part of the Palatine Mount. On the opposite side is part of the ruin of a temple, perhaps that of Concord; on the farther side of which stands a cluster of trees. Among the various figures that animate the scene, are a man and a woman approaching, driving before them an ox, an ass, and a goat; beyond these are a female and a youth sitting together, the latter is playing on a pipe. On the back of the drawing is written, drawn the 10th day of August 1677; the picture is still in my possession, August 1680.

This picture was, in the year 1777, in the possession of Lord Cathcart.

A duplicate of the above, was formerly in the possession of Mr. Hickey.

2. A Seaport, represented under the appearance of sunrise. This picture is distinguished by a lofty portico on the right,