Three Archers and a Figure with a Spear

Three Archers and a Figure with a Spear is a powerful drawing created by the master landscapist Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée) between 1670 and 1672. This late work, classified as a drawing, exhibits the artist’s characteristic precision, built upon an initial sketch of black chalk underdrawing. Lorrain executed the primary rendering using pen and brown ink, subsequently applying a rich brown wash with a brush to achieve variations in shadow and atmosphere.

The piece shifts the focus traditionally found in Lorrain’s famous paintings, moving away from sweeping Roman landscapes to concentrate intensely on figural interaction. The scene depicts a dramatic gathering of men, centering on the trio of archers equipped with bows and arrows, contrasted by a fourth figure wielding a spear. The composition uses the varying densities of the brown wash to create atmospheric depth, giving the figures a strong, sculptural quality despite the inherent swiftness of the pen and ink technique.

While figures in Lorrain’s broader oeuvre often served as staffage—small human elements used to establish scale—this concentration on detailed figural work demonstrates the artist’s technical commitment to narrative presentation. The depiction of military implements like the bow and spear suggests a classical or historical narrative context, typical of the French master’s work, even if the precise source remains unidentified. This important late drawing, Three Archers and a Figure with a Spear, is permanently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.