Panorama from the Sasso - Claude Lorrain

Helen Regenstein Collection

"Panorama from the Sasso" by Claude Lorrain (1649/1655) Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache and traces of white chalk, over black chalk and graphite, on cream laid paper.

Commentary

"Panorama from the Sasso" by Claude Lorrain (1649/1655) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Its painted surface guides your eye through color, brushwork, and contrast rather than through narrative alone. Themes to notice include pen and ink drawings. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Claude Lorrain is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Claude Lorrain French, 1600-1682. The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as pen and ink drawings, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache and traces of white chalk, over black chalk and graphite, on cream laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (16.2 × 40.2 cm (6 7/16 × 15 7/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include pen and ink drawings. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/60031

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data