The Country Dance - Claude Lorrain

Clarence Buckingham Collection

"The Country Dance" by Claude Lorrain (c. 1637) Etching on ivory laid paper.

Commentary

"The Country Dance" by Claude Lorrain (c. 1637) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. The print-based method rewards close viewing, where line, texture, and contrast do most of the expressive w ork. Themes to notice include print. 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 print, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Etching on ivory laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 13.3 × 19.2 cm (5 1/4 × 7 9/16 in.); Sheet, cut within platemark: 13.9 × 20 cm (5 1/2 × 7 7/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include print. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/28398

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