Description
This drawing represents a view of the famous Acqua Acetosa, a mineral spring that until the 19th century provided the favored drinking water of Romans who believed in its healing powers. Although topographically accurate, the sheet is not a plein-air study but a vision of an imagined Arcadian world carefully rendered by Gellée, one of the most original painters of the 17th century. The French-born artist spent his career painting and drawing the Roman Campagna and the Neopolitan coastline. Sublimely beautiful pen-and-ink and wash drawings such as the example here reveal the artist's highly poetic response to the natural world and his unparalleled sensitivity to light.
Provenance
Sir Joshua Reynolds(?); Sir Abraham Hume; by descent to Lord Alford; by descent to the Earls of Brownlow; [sale, Sotheby's, London, 14 July 1926, lot 43]; Mr. and Mrs. Edward Belden Greene, Cleveland.
Accession Number
1928.15.b
Medium
black chalk
Dimensions
Sheet: 26 x 40.5 cm (10 1/4 x 15 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Greene
Tags
Color: White
Background & Context
Background Story
Claude Lorrain's "David and Goliath" (c. 1645) appears on the verso of his "View of the Acqua Acetosa" drawing, executed in black chalk. This biblical subject shows Claude working through a composition that would likely have been destined for a finished painting or etching. The story of David and Goliath, from the Book of Samuel, was a popular subject in Baroque art, symbolizing the triumph of faith and courage over brute force. Claude's approach to the subject is characteristically restrained—he places the figures within a landscape setting, with David's victory over the giant presented as part of a harmonious natural order rather than as a dramatic confrontation. The black chalk medium gives the drawing a softer, more atmospheric quality than the recto's pen and ink. This double-sided sheet is exceptionally rare and valuable because it demonstrates the range of Claude's practice: on one side, a direct study from nature; on the other, a biblical invention. The two faces of the sheet are connected by their shared interest in the relationship between human action and the natural world that frames it.
Cultural Impact
This double-sided sheet reveals the dual nature of Claude's genius: the landscape observer and the history painter coexisting on a single piece of paper, demonstrating the unity of his artistic vision.
Why It Matters
The David and Goliath verso shows Claude working in a different mode—inventive rather than observational—yet the landscape setting remains central, revealing how thoroughly he integrated narrative and natural description in his art.
