Sunrise (recto); Landscape with Figures (verso)

Sunrise (recto); Landscape with Figures (verso) is an exceptional double-sided drawing by the highly influential French master Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée), executed sometime during his long and productive career, 1620-1682. This sheet provides insight into Lorrain’s diverse technical approaches to preparatory sketching. The recto, titled Sunrise, is primarily executed in pen and ink, revealing the artist's initial compositional layout aided by underlying indications of black chalk.

Lorrain was renowned for his pioneering work in idealized classical Landscapes, and the recto exemplifies his mastery of atmospheric light and space, even in a preliminary sketch. The composition structures the scene around expansive Trees and classical elements, integrating minute Human Figures and Animals into the foreground to establish scale and narrative. These figures, often pastoral or mythological, anchor the dramatic vista.

The verso, Landscape with Figures, offers a contrasting, more rapidly executed view. This side utilizes the broader application of brush and gray ink, focusing less on linear detail and more on capturing the fluid massing of the terrain and sky. As a crucial example of 17th-century French drawing, this piece provides direct evidence of Lorrain’s methods for developing his famous finished canvases. This significant drawing is classified within The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s extensive collection. Historically, studies of this caliber are central to understanding the Baroque era, and high-quality prints and reproductions are often made available through public domain initiatives, allowing broader study of Lorrain's development of light and composition.