Study for "Landscape with Figure and Houses"

This drawing is a study for Claude-Emile Schuffenecker's highly finished pastel with the same title, also in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art (2014.2). All of the major compositional elements of the scene—the lichen-covered rocks in the foreground, the figure by the fence that stretches horizontally across the landscape, and the cottage in the distance—are suggested in this preparatory work. Flecks of color in the field and streaks in the background foliage and sky create a shimmering effect that is further enhanced in the finished pastel.