Landscape with a Draftsman

Claude Lorrain was born in the Duchy of Lorrain in modern-day France, but he pursued his artistic career in Rome, where he became the most sought-after landscape painter of his time. He was also active as a printmaker and prolific as a draftsman. He and fellow artists made frequent trips into the countryside to study the terrain, plants, animals, people, and perhaps most of all, the atmospheric light that suffused the whole with romantic magic. In the lower left corner of this etching, we see an artist engaged in making just such observations as two companions look on. Claude presents us with grist for our imaginations as travelers pass to and from the great stone seaside port, and we also see past the far side of the bay, out to the distant horizon.