The early work of Raphael . Italian Seaport, with Boats. British Museum. yellow ochre. Sometimes he deepens the shadows by cross-hatchingswith red or black chalk. The drawings of his last years appear to havebeen made very rapidly, and are too often devoid of any delicacy. In the choice of subjects there is as much variety as in the choiceof material. Roughly speaking, however, the drawings may be dividedinto two categories : first, sketches direct from nature ; and, secondly,drafts from nature or from memory (perhaps adaptations of studies fromnature) with a view to making pictures. The latte
The early work of Raphael . Italian Seaport, with Boats. British Museum. yellow ochre. Sometimes he deepens the shadows by cross-hatchingswith red or black chalk. The drawings of his last years appear to havebeen made very rapidly, and are too often devoid of any delicacy. In the choice of subjects there is as much variety as in the choiceof material. Roughly speaking, however, the drawings may be dividedinto two categories : first, sketches direct from nature ; and, secondly,drafts from nature or from memory (perhaps adaptations of studies fromnature) with a view to making pictures. The latter are interesting as CLAUDE LORRAIN 73 showing the process by which the artist moulded nature to meet hisown requirements (or those of his patrons); the former are much moreattractive from an artistic point of The Arch of Titus. British Museum. It is trite to say that the best pictures are those which afford leastscope to the critic for long descriptions. Their very virtue consists 74 CLAUDE LORRAIN in this that they express by colour, and form ideas which words cannot,or can only feebly, express. What is true of pictures is even more so of drawings. There isso much, and yet so little, in a really artistic drawing. Words cannotconvey that subtle something which is its very essence. All the carefullyselected epithets of the critic are nothing in comparison with one glanceat the drawing itself. Thus it is that Claudes drawings are the mostdifficult part of his work to speak about. It would be easy enough to give a list of the subjects did spaceallow, but to convey an idea of the grace and charm with which even themost trivial subject is treated would be a difficult task. Tivoli, as we know from Claudes biographers, was a favouritesketching-ground with him. Again and again we find in these dra
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookde, booksubjectraphael14831520, bookyear1895
