Richard Earlom – Landscape with the Holy Family (after Claude Lorrain) 1774
etching with aquatint, plate 20.7 x 25.7 / sheet 27.7 x 43.9 cm
Unframed – Price £40
Plate 38 from Richard Earlom’s Liber Veritatis, published by John Boydell, London. Earlom’s Liber Veritatis was intended to copy Claude Lorrain’s Liber Veritatis which Claude started in 1635/6 and maintained until his death in 1682, in which he recorded all his compositions. Claude’s Liber was purchased by the Duke of Devonshire in the 1720s and reproduced in print form by Earlom between 1774 and 1776. Claude added washes to his ink drawings, mainly in brown or grey (sometimes both) which Earlom attempts to mimic.
References: Wessely, Earlom 186; Kitson (1978) No. 38
Inscriptions in bottom margin: Left – ‘Claude Lorrain delint’ ‘No.38′ Centre: Published April 25th , 1774 by John Boydell Engraver in Cheapside’ ‘From the Original Drawing in the Collection of the Duke of Devonshire’ Right: R Earlom fecit’
Condition: Nice impression. Sheet has been cleaned; residue foxing in parts of margins, faint in image. Age staining on left and right edges of sheet.