Seated Woman and Other Sketches

"Seated Woman and Other Sketches" is a fine example of graphic arts, an etching created by the French Baroque master Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) sometime between 1625 and 1638. This specific piece is recognized as the first and only state in the Mannocci catalogue raisonné, indicating its singular technical execution during the artist’s lifetime.

The work showcases Lorrain's early focus on preparatory drawing and figure study, a critical skill even for a painter who would become world-renowned for idealized landscapes. The composition centers on a figure of a seated woman, likely captured from life, alongside various other fragmented studies of heads, limbs, and drapery. Lorrain used the swift, linear qualities of the etching medium to replicate the immediacy often found in his chalk and pen sketches, a characteristic visible in the confident, quick delineation of the figures and their surrounding environment. This technique imbues the resulting print with the dynamic spontaneity typical of preliminary artistic exploration.

While Lorrain is primarily celebrated for his classical scenery, these early prints offer valuable insight into his rigorous practice of figure drawing, a skill necessary for populating his elaborate scenes. The exploratory nature of these sketches suggests they served as foundational material for larger oil compositions. This historical example of 17th-century French prints is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Given its age and cultural significance, the work is often made available through public domain initiatives, allowing scholars and enthusiasts worldwide access to Lorrain’s methods outside of his celebrated landscape works.