Lorrain, Claude (1600-1682) Liber Veritatis, first and second edition (1774-1777)

Claude Lorrain, born Claude Gellee, was a native of Lorraine, France, and later adopted this fact to be his trademark name. He moved to Rome when he was 13 after the death of his parents, and apprenticed under famed artist Agostino Tassi. His love of the Italian countryside was reflected in his beautiful paintings of the seaports, country scenes, pastoral motifs, and the admired buildings of that day, both modern and ancient. He became an important landscape painter, with his artwork both appreciated and purchased by aristocratic circles. Claude began to record every painting he produced, making a careful drawing of each and recording the buyer on the back. He compiled 195 drawings in this collection, and called it “Liber Veritatis”, or the “Book of Truth”. This was later the same name used for the publication by Richard Earlom and John Boydell in 1774. Earlom masterfully etched and mezzotinted many of Lorrain’s paintings and drawings in sepia. Boydell printed these with superb craftsmanship, and published them in this publication from 1774 to 1777. The 1777 edition was dedicated to the Duke of Devonshire, who then owned the original drawings.

Prints from this publication are very rare