Image scanned and/or photographed, then color-corrected by Pat Cagney.

Classical Ruins In A Landscape

Artist Pierre Patel the Elder (French, 1605-1676)

CultureFrench

Date1652

MediumChalk | Paper

DimensionsOverall: 9 x 9 in. (22.9 x 22.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 13 1/2 x 13 3/8 in. (34.3 x 34 cm)

InscribedPatel's signature and the date 1652

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number84.180

Not on view

DescriptionA chalk on paper drawing of ancient ruins and trees.

Label TextPierre Patel the Elder French, ca. 1605-1676 Classical Ruins in a Landscape, ca. 1652 Black and White Chalk on brown paper, 9" x 9" Museum Purchase, 84.180 Very little is known of the life of Pierre Patel the Elder (ca. 1605 - Paris 1676). Trained by Simon Vouet, first painter to Louis XIII, Patel worked exclusively as a landscape artist. Although few signed works by him are known, his paintings are filled with subtle atmospheric modulations of color and delicate manipulations of architectonic detailing. The critic Mariette called him the Claude Lorrain of France, although unlike that preeminent classical landscape painter, Patel never traveled to Italy. Queen Anne of Austria, according to Sauval, was simply "mad about his paintings." Drawings by Patel are even more scarce, and hence the recent acquisition of a sketch of Classical Ruins in a Landscape is especially notable. This work seems to be a preparatory sketch for the painting Landscape with Journey to Emmaeus, 1652, which is in the permanent collection of the Museum. In the final composition, the fantastic ruined arcaded portico serves as a foil for the expanse of rolling hills on the right. As in many works of this genre executed during the seventeenth century, the central figures in the painting are merely an excuse to give the picture a religious title. Patel was later to work with Eustache Le Sueur on the decoration of the "Cabinet de l'amour" at the Hotel Lambert. ProvenanceN. Hone; Charles Lambert (note by Esdaile on reverse of mount); W. Esdaile, with his attribution to Patel and numbers "81" and "294" on the mount and "P.81" and "N.81" on the reverse; Christie's 24, June 1840, part of lot 1215; Christie, Manson & Woods, LTD, sale "Important Old Master Drawings," July 4, 1984; The Chrysler Museum Purchase, 1984. Exhibition History"French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, May 31 - Sept. 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Nov. 6, 1986 - Jan. 18, 1987. (Exhib. cat. fig. 2, p. 5). "Master Drawings at the Chrysler Museum," Small Changing Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, February 26 - April 23, 1989. "From Fontainebleau to the Louvre: French Drawing from the Seventeenth Century," the Cleveland Museum of Art, Dec. 13, 1989 - Jan. 28, 1990; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Feb. 24 - April 8, 1990; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, May 6 - June 17, 1990. "Grand Designs: Preliminary Drawings and Oil Sketches from The Chrysler Museum," Prints and Drawings Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, April 2 - June 22, 1994. Published ReferencesPresented by Adolphe Stein. MASTER DRAWINGS. London: H. Terry-Engell Gallery. 12/1975: No. 82, plate 66. Chrysler Museum. "Classical Ruins in a Landscape," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum. 09/1984: Back cover. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. The Chrysler Museum. 1986. Fig. 2, p. 5. Hilliard T. Goldfarb. _From Fontainebleau to the Louvre: French Drawing from the Seventeenth Century_. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press. 1989. (Exhib. cat. no. 81). Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991, p. 41, #33.