Classical Ruins In A Landscape
Artist
Pierre Patel the Elder
(French, 1605-1676)
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)
Overall, Frame: 13 1/2 x 13 3/8 in. (34.3 x 34 cm)
ClassificationsEuropean art
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number84.180
Terms
- Ruins
- Landscape
- Black
- White
- Brown
On View
Not on viewLabel 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.
Elisabeth Hase
Pair/Pair